


The Hazards of Love

by knightswatch



Category: Free!
Genre: Aftercare, Alpha!Rin, Alternate Universe - Future Fish, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bondage, Clothed Sex, Crossdressing, Dancing, First Kiss, Fluff, Gifts, Jealous!Rin, Lazy Sundays, M/M, Masturbation, Nipple Play, Non-Graphic Violence, Occasional implications of Rin/Haru, Omega!Nitori, Omega!verse, Phantom Thief!Nitori, Police Officer!Rin, Praise Kink, Prince/Knight AU, Semi-Public Sex, Sensory Deprivation, White Day, harrassment, just a collection of my prompts and drabbles, rockstar!au, step-brothers au, unrelated series, witch!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-14 21:43:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 40,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3426611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightswatch/pseuds/knightswatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Singing oh, oh, The Hazards of Love</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Less Cute

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter, first kisses! See if you can guess the movie (though I already said what it was over on my tumblr >.>)

It wasn’t entirely clear to Rin how he had wound up in this situation. The dim awareness that Nitori had an English exam at the end of the week was scratching at the back of his mind, but somehow they were both laying on Rin’s bunk, watching some new animated film. There were a scant few inches between their bodies with Rin laying on his side, shoulder leaning on the cool wall. Nitori was closer to the edge, on his back, head propped up by both of Rin’s pillows.

The movie seemed cute enough, and Nitori’s eyes glimmered as he processed all the events playing across the screen. Rin found himself staring at his roommate far more than the strange crime fighting robot. He didn’t mean to but even after catching himself each time his attention would eventually wander away. Nitori had his track jacket and some absurdly small pair of shorts on, his slender legs splayed across the space left on the bunk. 

Late in the film tears started welling in Nitori’s eyes, and Rin felt a strange flash of panic in his chest. Why was he crying? His attention was more focused on the movie than before, but as one tear leaked out of his blue eyes, Rin’s hand lifted from the bed. His thumb brushed it away, caressing over Nitori’s beauty mark and pulling his attention away from the screen for the first time.

But when he looked up at Rin, whose hand had dropped back to the mattress, he was giving the screen an almost determined glare. Like he was more focused on looking at it than what was actually on it. Nitori looked back at the screen, subtly shifting a little closer to Rin. He wasn’t really paying much attention anymore either, instead letting himself feel the prickles on is skin every time Rin’s eyes settled back on him. 

He was drawn back into the movie by degrees once Rin seemed to actually be watching it as well. Rin was not watching, too busy remembering the soft feeling of Nitori’s skin. They were almost pressed together now, and being so close Rin could smell the soft vanilla of Nitori’s silver hair. How in the world could he be expected to watch a movie under such distracting conditions?

It was when tears started to well up in Nitori’s eyes again that Rin’s faked attention broke. He shifted, slowly like he was scared of being found out until he was laying with his face level to Nitori’s. Nitori glanced over as he felt the movement, surprised to find Rin nearly looming over him.

"S-senpai?" He asked quietly, listening to the quiet draw and release of Rin’s breath. Rin’s face hovered closer, inches away for just a moment, giving Nitori time to draw away or scream in horror. He didn’t, but when Rin’s lips pressed against his a little gasp fell from his mouth.

It was a surprise when Rin felt his mouth moving against Nitori’s. He didn’t remember commanding his body to act, only the weight pressing down on his heart getting heavier and heavier for every second he was spending not kissing him. It was more surprising that Nitori responded to the kiss, pressing their lips together, and after a moment opening his mouth just a little.

Rin took the invitation, his tongue pressing a tender path between soft lips. He jolted when Nitori’s tongue returned the contact, the simple brush that brought them together electrifying his body. His head jerked away, a furious blush creeping across his neck and up to his face. He knew Nitori was staring at him, he could feel the pressure of those wide blue eyes against his face. Rin didn’t return the look, staring at the screen with even greater determination until the credits rolled. 

Nitori didn’t comment, rolling back towards the screen and watching the remainder of the movie with two fingers pressed against his lips. It prolonged the memory of contact, and facing away from Rin served well to hide the fact that he was just as red-faced.


	2. Dear Valentine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nitori receiving a special bouquet for white day from a secret admirer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still just senseless fluff! I could maybe be convinced to write about the implied massage that follows. Maybe.

White Day at Samezuka was rarely an exciting time. While some students brought their girlfriends or crushes around to return the gifts they had received, there wasn’t a lot of interest in the holiday at an all boys school. Nitori’s heart was still beating a little faster the whole day, an extra spring of hope in his step. He had after all given Rin a box of chocolates on Valentine’s day (dark with a little bit of orange zest, not too sweet), and hadn’t actually gotten anything other than a grumbled thank you in return. 

He wasn’t bothered by the lack of a present though his heart had soared seeing that Senpai had actually eaten all of the chocolate Nitori had gifted him. He’d let Nitori share in the box from his sister, probably because they appealed to Nitori’s sweet tooth far more than they did to Rin. The thought that maybe Rin would return his present today sat heavy in the back of his mind the whole day, weighing his focus down.

It seemed that he was rewarded when he returned to their room and there was a shiny white gift bag hanging from the doorknob. He peeked inside, nearly squeaking in delight at the small card that read his name in a vibrant red ink. He lifted the bag off the door, letting himself into the room with a swift twist of his key. He set the bag gently on his messy desk before plunging into it and drawing out a small bouquet of perfect white flowers.

The roses released their heavy fragrance into the air, and Nitori stood for a moment just admiring them, feeling his heart dance in his chest. Rin had given him a gift back, and it was a beautiful one at that. He pressed his face into their delicate petals, letting the scent waft around him for another moment.

Until the door closing behind him, brought him halfway out of his thoughts. He turned to Rin and gave him a blinding smile. Holding the flowers in front of his chest he laughed, eyes squeezed shut like the light he was giving off might even damage them.

Rin was used to walking into slightly weird situations, but Nitori seemingly presenting him with yet another present was not it. Still, he looked so happy that Rin had to fight back the smile that wanted to find its way onto his face.

"Aren’t you only supposed to get me something once?" He asked, one eyebrow quirked. His voice wasn’t gruff or put off but entertained. Did Nitori think he was that lonely?

To his surprise, Nitori giggled again, bright and silvery and shook his head. “No Senpai! They were for me; I found them on the door.”

Nitori’s eyes were open now, smiling as he took another shy sniff of the flowers. Rin didn’t respond right away, the information processing its way through his brain. Eventually he nodded curly, swinging himself into his bunk and shoving his headphones into his ears so harshly they quite nearly pierced his brain. 

Self-lobotomy seemed like a wonderful alternative to staring at the flowers any longer, even as Nitori leaned them against the mirror that hung over his dresser, still admiring them. Rin’s response seemed strange, but Nitori had since accepted that Rin could be shy about sharing his feelings.

Still, he plucked up his courage and walked over to the bed, tapping Rin’s leg gently to get him to open his eyes once again. The glare in them was fierce, and he jerked one headphone out with a little growl, waiting on Nitori to speak.

"Thank you, Senpai." Nitori’s voice was shy, and a dusty pink blush had worked its way onto his cheeks. Rin blinked his eyes, realization dawning on him as he took in the adorable expression.

"For what? I would leave a present on your bed, not outside." He looked away with a little ‘tsk’ sound, putting the headphone back in. Nitori’s blush went from charmed to embarrassed in a moment, and he mumbled an apology that Rin couldn’t hear over the pounding music washing away all his thoughts.

Someone else had left Nitori a present. Someone he’d probably given chocolates too. The thought made a growl bubble up in Rin’s chest that he was hard pressed to swallow back down. It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter that Nitori hadn’t even found his present in his excitement over some stupid weeds. There wasn’t even a name left with them, they were just dropped off by some coward…

He closed his eyes again, trying to let the truly annoying train of thought pass him by only to be ripped back to reality by a shockingly loud squeal.

It came from the top bunk, and Rin exploded upwards, climbing halfway up the ladder to make sure Nitori hadn’t found some way to hurt himself.

He hadn’t. Instead, he was sitting on his knees on the bed, staring at the white orchids sitting on his pillow. Next to them there was a box wrapped in white silk which Nitori untied as Rin watched quietly. He opened it, fingers trembling as he found six white chocolate hearts inside next to a bottle with a soft yellow liquid inside. Nitori lifted it up, popping the cap and sighing happily at the soft vanilla smell that came out. Scanning the bottle, he realized it was a mind of scented massage oil and blushed just a little further. He turned to look over his shoulder at Rin, who was looking anywhere in the room but at Nitori.

Nitori reached out, fingers curling under Rin’s chin softly and turning him so they faced each other. Rin was relieved to be met with perhaps the widest smile that he had ever seen on Nitori’s face.

"Should I thank you for this instead, Senpai?" Nitori’s voice was coy, and he was holding the bottle of oil in one hand. Rin blushed, a little glad that Gou’s advice on the present seemed sound, even if it was embarrassing. He nodded slowly, finding himself leaning into Nitori’s soft hand rather than trying to look away again.

"You’ve been working hard lately, you must be sore," His reply was grumbled out, the idea of actually suggesting that he give Nitori a massage was a little beyond his command of words. Rin swallowed, the thought of rubbing Nitori’s bare skin jumping into his mind without permission. 

Nitori laughed softly, leaning forward and kissing Rin’s forehead, smiling against his skin.

"Thank you very much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my mind, Rin and Nitori are at a sort of midway in their relationship. It's clear that they both like each other, but no one's confessed and they aren't dating in the technical sense of the word. Also, jealous!Rin is like, my source of life.


	3. Waltz(Better than Fine)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ai pulls Rin into a slow dance and starts to sing into his chest one lazy Sunday morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm dumb and switched the prompt around without really realizing it. It's okay, still cute.

Rin found out that Nitori was not really a morning person within the first week of living together. He would get up every day to the screeching of his alarm and the desperate groans to make it stop. It would take at least another ten minutes of rolling and grumbling for him to pull his charming silver bedhead up and shuffle into the bathroom.

When they began sharing a bunk, Rin decided to give Nitori Sundays to sleep in. Usually, he would lay there and enjoy his peaceful breathing, holding on until Nitori woke up slowly. This particular Sunday, Rin extracted himself gently and walked into the bathroom with a wide smile.

It was a surprise when he came back to alert blue eyes on him though Nitori still had his morning frown plastered on his face. Rin chuckled, sliding his hands under the blanket, tickling over his arms before taking his hands and drawing Nitori out of the bed, ignoring the grumbles as he did.

He rested his face against the silver strands of Nitori’s hair, using his hands to smooth some of the strange angles at which his locks were standing. His hands slid down, cupping Nitori’s face and squeezing his shoulders before coming to rest at the dip of his waist. He held them there, rocking them both back and forth slowly.

He pressed a feather soft kiss on the top of Nitori’s head, leading him through a lazy kind of waltz around the room. His eyes were half-lidded in contentment, feeling the warm fanning of Nitori’s breath against his neck. He was tucked perfectly under Rin’s chin, his cheek resting against silver hair.

Nitori allowed himself to be led along with the tune playing in Rin’s head, listening him to hum it in broken strands. He paused, lifting his face and tilting Nitori’s chin upwards with long fingers, pressing a tender kiss against his lips. When their eyes connected, Rin saw something indecipherable in their sparkling blue.

 Nitori sighed out softly at the contact, returning it with an eager affection that surprised Rin. He took both of Rin’s hands in his own, squeezing them as they twirled once again through dancing, his eyes gently closed.

Rin smiled again against the top of his head, and Nitori could feel the shifting of his lips as he pressed kisses against his crown. He kept one of Nitori’s hand, extracting the other to wrap around his back. His thumb rubbed up and down, tracing the bumps of Nitori’s spine. Nitori shivered, his lips pressing on Rin’s collarbone in return. There was a breathy laugh against his hair, and his eyes fluttered open with a smile.

"I love you," Rin was quiet when he spoke, not lifting his head away from where it rested on the top of Nitori’s. They were still dancing until Nitori stopped short, the momentum causing a single stumbled step. Rin’s arms held him steady, and a silent moment ticked between them.

It wasn’t an unintentional slip, like the moment when Rin had brashly suggested that they should just be dating already. He was sure, the words had weighed heavy on his tongue from his first wakeful moment that day, and when Nitori still stood frozen and quiet, he extracted himself from the embrace slowly.

There was a curse on his tongue, and he spun on his heel, feeling the building pressure behind his eyes. At the first sparks of his tears, his palms scrubbed against this eyes in annoyance. He jolted as Nitori’s arms came to wrap around him. His hand rested on Rin’s chest, one over the other, directly above his heart. He could feel the unsteady beating and pressed a kiss to the exposed back of his neck.

"I love you too, Senpai," Nitori spoke like he was out of breath, nuzzling his face between Rin’s shoulder blades. He shifted, turning Rin to face him gently now, looking up with a subdued smile. "Don’t cry."

Rin did, his face pressed against Nitori’s, laughing.


	4. One is Not Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: based on the Momo/Ai mook - Officer Rin stages for a duped version of the Phantoms' intended targeted item in order to catch one or both of them. He ends up catching Phantom Duck and Ai spills the beans, saying they were just returning previously stolen items to their rightful owners. Rin kind of develops a crush on him because justice and Phantom Duck looks a lot cuter in person compared to the wanted posters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little silly, but I had some fun with it!

Rin Matsuoka found that he took well to the life of a police officer. He had the good fortune of having a childhood friend as a partner, and he was able to protect the people of Iwatobi every day. Being such a small city, it wasn't too heavy a load to bear, except for one pair of criminals that spelled nothing but trouble.

Phantom Thieves Duck and Otter were the top of Rin's list of worries. They stole valuable items that never seemed to make their way to the black market, making it impossible to track back to them. On top of them, their escapes were so theatrical and over the top, but so far tracing them through their methods hadn't turned up anything helpful. Rin decided that the best way to catch this troublesome pair was through a trap. He had the media announce the arrival of an extremely precious Diamond Iwatobi statue to the local art gallery, and the night before the announced opening, he and Sousuke hid in waiting for the thieves.

Predictably, while waiting through the night, Sousuke dozed off, leaving Rin to monitor the statue by himself. It was no problem until he heard the soft taps of footsteps entering the room. He hunched further into his hiding place, hands balled tightly into fists. 

The man that padded in was surprisingly short, wearing blue and white clothes. There was a white mask covering his face, but the blue eyes behind it were captivating. Rin found himself holding his breath, watching the Phantom Thief Duck scan the room. 

He failed to notice Rin or the sleeping Sousuke, and he continued his quiet approach to the statue. His delicate gloved hands lifted the glass off, and with a sweep of his cape the Diamond Iwatobi vanished. Despite his efforts to remain hidden, Rin gasped.

The Phantom Theif's silver head whipped around so quickly he squeaked and grabbed for his tall hat. After placing it firmly back on his head, he crouched low and stepped back as Rin stood from his hiding place.

He noticed the Phantom Theif trembling as he approached, teeth bared in a wide grimace. At least he would be able to capture one of them, seeing as the little man was too scared to even run from him. 

"Put it back and it'll go much easier on you," he announced, voice echoing in the quiet room. With only the eyes of the paintings on him, Phantom Thief Duck gave a small smirk of his own.

"If I do, can I steal something from you?" He asked, voice silvery. Rin shook his head, holding his hand out expectantly for the statue. The Phantom Thief swirled his cape once again and the statue was in Rin's hand.

"I don't need it," the Phantom Thief explained, his eyes fastened to the glowering police officer. "I'm only looking for items that were taken from their owners."

Rin blinked slowly as the revelation sunk in. Taken from their owners? Was that why they couldn't find a trace of the stolen goods being sold?

"That's what you do with them? Give them back?" He was skeptical, even as the little thief nodded at him, a mysterious smile on his masked face.

"But there's something I'll take from you tonight, officer," his voice was almost a purr. He stepped forward now, hands balancing on Rin's shoulders as he leaned up. The Phantom Theif pressed their lips together firmly. 

Rin's mind froze, his head tilting slightly as one hand pressed into the thief's soft silver hair. With a low sigh, Phantom Theif Duck broke away from the officer, giving him a wink as he dashed towards the door.

"If you want your kiss back, you'll have to find me again!" He called over his shoulder. As Rin turned to follow, a puff of blue smoke appeared in the doorway, cutting his view.

Instead he stood in the middle of the room, the Diamond Iwatobi in one hand, the other pressed firmly against his lips.

A stolen kiss, huh?


	5. Seeing Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nitori forgetting to properly wash his swimsuit so he is forced to wear a very provocative speedo for practice. Nitori doing things he usually does and not realizing that Rin is trying his best not to show it that he's turned on. Now with smut!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin thinks naughty thoughts and swears a little, and then they do the deed.

Nitori would be the first to admit that he could be a scatterbrain. Usually, with Rin around to keep an eye on him things weren't too terrible, but when a long weekend had come up his roommate had taken the chance to go home for it. Nitori had decided to stay at school by himself, and found on Monday that he had blanked on washing either of his swimsuits for practice.

Rin had already left for the pool, leaving Nitori pawing through his dresser in desperation. Eventually his hands happened upon a long forgotten suit in the back of the drawer, and he stuffed it into his bag in a rush. His rush brought him to the pool only a few minutes late, still struggling to adjust the back of the suit to properly cover his backside.

His cheeks were a dusty pink, and Rin quirked an eyebrow at his lateness, standing in line already for time drills. His mild curiosity at Nitori's lateness was snuffed in an instant when a quick glance brought the new piece of attire to his attention. He saw Nitori in swimsuits every day, but this one was totally new to him.

The speedo was tighter on Nitori than his regular briefs, covered with pastel stars. It hugged his hips and was high on his thighs, revealing the small beauty mark on the left one. The mark that Rin was fairly sure had been restricted to only his eyes before today. He ripped his eyes away though not before Nitori walked past him. The suit clung to his ass, making it look remarkably plush in contrast to his slender legs.

Rin focused his eyes forward, not really seeing anything in front of him. He could feel the flush on his face as he tried to block Nitori out of his awareness completely. It didn't work, he continued stealing glances often enough to realize he wasn't the only one. There was a rising heat in his chest though it wasn't the usual jealousy.

Rin hit the water, his stroke carrying him forward on autopilot. He knew his time would be slow, but his mind couldn't be tempted to focus on swimming. Instead, its focus was Nitori's pale thighs, holding him down and touching his sensitive skin until the tempting article was a mess, licking beads of sweat and water off his skin.

He gulped for air as he hit the turn, shooting back through the water. He was thankful it was a little cold though without being able to pull his mind away from biting that little mark on his thigh he knew it was unlikely the water was going to do anything to stop his arousal.

Hauling himself out of the water, he was greeted by the familiar sight of Nitori handing him a towel. Rin's face flushed, grabbing it sharply and quickly looking away. He felt the confusion radiating off him. There was a pang of guilt, Rin didn't want him to think that he'd done something wrong, but he knew if he looked at Nitori now his carefully constructed self-control would utterly fail him.

He stood against the wall as Nitori prepared for his drill. Rin's face only grew hotter, watching Nitori arch his back, pulling his elbow downward in a languid stretch. It only brought another wave of lewd thoughts to his mind, and after a hard swallow Rin found himself pulling his jacket on, hands in the pocket to push it low enough to cover his pelvis.

He returned to his chosen spot just in time to see Nitori leaning over the starting block. His back was bowed, fingers gripping to the edge, one leg stretched in a long line, the other perched beneath him. The form of his dive was the furthest thing from Rin's mind as he watched.

"Oi Matsuoka! You feelin' okay?" Mikoshiba was surveying him with golden eyes and Rin jolted at the voice, looking over with what he hoped was a sharp glare. "You're more red than usual."

The captain laughed at his own joke, but Rin just shrugged and quickly looked away. He was feeling... strained, and much more aware of people staring at Nitori. He was popping out of the pool with a bright smile, one of the other second years offering his hand to haul him from the water.

Rin couldn't stop the growl that it pulled from him, but hid it as a cough against his sleeve. Mikoshiba quirked an eyebrow at it before throwing his arm over Rin's neck, squeezing them together a little.

"Gettin' sick?" He boomed, and Rin tried to struggle out of the grip. The contact with skin felt itchy, too cold against his hot skin. He managed to elbow Mikoshiba off of him and shrugged again.

"I'll take the day if you want." He mumbled, aware that giving up a day of practice voluntarily would probably only raise the captain's concerns even more. He didn't really care, even as he pulled his magnetized eyes to Mikoshiba for the first time since he'd started talking.

The energetic redhead was already gone though, clapping Nitori on the shoulder. Rin almost choked before he realized that Nitori had probably beaten one of his best times.

All because of that stupid swimsuit, he was sure. Time seemed to speed up after that, and Rin didn't jump into the pool again. Nitori swam several more laps, stretching himself out in between each of them. Rin's mouth felt like a desert and the jacket felt like sandpaper everywhere it touched his skin.

When the agonizing practice finally finished, his fingers locked around Nitori's wrist firmly. He jolted a little, turning to Rin with wide blue eyes, smile showing his confusion. Rin was sure he looked mad, giving Nitori just enough time to pull his track wear back on before trying to drag him from the pool area as quickly as possible.

"S-senpai?" He asked, bounding at Rin's side in an effort to keep up. "I-is everything okay?"

Rin swallowed, glancing down at where he gripped onto Nitori's wrist, adjusting so he was holding his hand again.

"N-no. I just..." His face flushed, still holding onto Nitori as he unlocked the door, sharp teeth digging into his lower lip. _I just really need to fuck you in that swimsuit_ , his mind finished for him.

When the door closed behind Rin, he slowly let go of Nitori’s hand. The sound of the lock clicking made Nitori turn and tilt his head a little, smile a picture of perfect innocence.

"You okay Senpai? You didn’t swim much today," he was wiggling out of his track pants, damp swimsuit still on underneath. He turned towards the bathroom, intending to take it off inside so he could properly rinse the chlorine out of it. Rin made a strange coughing sound, pulling his attention back quickly.

"W-when did you even get that?" His eyes were hooked to the swimsuit and Nitori turned with a little blush, laughing softly.

"I’ve had it for a long time; I forgot to do my laundry over the weekend," he paused, waiting for Rin to glare or scold him for being so forgetful. Rin didn’t say anything, just continuing to stare at the fabric like it had insulted him. "Um, is it that bad? I did really well today, so I was going to go look at getting another one this weekend."

Rin’s face lit up bright red at that, his hands snapping up from his sides to cover his face with a little groan. Nitori stared for a second, then giggled.

"Are you thinking naughty things about my swimwear Rin-senpai?" He giggled again as Rin nodded his head morosely. He moved back in front of Rin now, breathing soft kisses against his collarbone. His small hand came to rest over Rin’s groin and he arched one eyebrow in surprise at the hardness his palm rubbed against. "It seems like you are."

Rin groaned, peeking one eye between his fingers to try and glare at Nitori. It faded with Nitori’s fingers stroking teasingly over his length making it difficult to continue looking angry. Rin dropped his hands from his face with a little sigh, instead putting them to better use squeezing Nitori’s ass through the cool fabric.

"Maybe," Rin managed to grumble out before kissing him. He sighed a little into it, tongue pressing over Nitori’s as his lips parted. Nitori pulled away too soon, tongue swiping over his lips with a smile.

"Are you going to show me?" He giggled, stepping back from Rin entirely. Rin growled a little at the loss of contact, nodding his head and pointing Nitori to the bed. Nitori laid on his back, then laughed as Rin rolled him to his stomach. His feet were still resting on the floor, elbows propping his chest enough to allow him to look back at Rin with a smile.

Rin didn’t see it, too focused on running his thumbs along Nitori’s pale skin; over his thighs right at the openings of the swimsuit. He was kneeling on the floor, lips pressing to the beauty mark that had tormented him for the last hour. Nitori giggled, then moaned softly as Rin’s teeth sank gently into his skin.

His tongue dragged slowly over the bitten spot, purring before nipping it once more. He nuzzled against Nitori’s thigh with a smile before rising, hands giving his ass a firm squeeze that only drew the suit tighter. Air hissed out from between his teeth and brushed over Nitori’s bare shoulders, making him whine a little.

Rin chuckled a little, grinding his hips down against Nitori’s ass with a smirk pressed into his back, hands on either side to help him balance.

“I’ve had a boner for the last hour and you’re already impatient?” His smirk grew as Nitori nodded, looking back at Rin with hazy blue eyes. His thumbs rubbed over Nitori’s sides for a moment, contemplating the potential fallout of continuing with the teasing.

His resolve failed when Nitori’s plush ass ground up against his length, accompanied by a long moan. He left another soft bite on the back of his shoulder before sitting up, hand digging under the pillow for a second before tugging out a tube of clear lubricant. He spread the cool gel on two fingers before sliding them inside the swimsuit. Slick digits teased around Nitori’s entrance and he whimpered, pushing back into them with a shiver.

“You know I’m leaving that thing on,” Rin hissed against his shoulder, one finger sliding into Nitori’s inviting heat slowly, the whimper it drew out adding to the pooling arousal in his stomach. “While I fuck you.”

Nitori nodded, mumbling into the blanket beneath him and rocking his hips back into the thrusting of Rin’s finger. He added another after Nitori breathed out long and shuddering. He alternated between sliding them in all the way and curling them to press the bundle of nerves and scissoring them apart.

Nitori keened at the first press against his prostate, turning his face to look up at Rin with heavy-lidded eyes when the third finger pushed inside. His hair was stuck against his forehead and he could feel the swell of his bottom lip from having bitten too hard into it.

“Riinn,” he whined out, spreading his legs further and rocking them backwards. Rin pressed a kiss to the side of Nitori’s hip before standing and slowly withdrawing his hand. Nitori whined again at the loss, forlorn and wanting. “Next time I’m doing it myself, and I’m gonna make you watch.”

Rin shuddered, spreading more of the thick gel over his cock before using one hand to pull the swimsuit to the side. He eased himself in with a groan, eyes fluttering as the heat wrapped around him. He paused when his hips came to press against Nitori’s ass, tongue swiping over his lips to give his body something to do other than to scream at him to  _move._

“Your fingers,” he began sliding his hips backwards slowly, relishing in the way Nitori gasped and gripped onto the blanket. “Are too small.”

He pushed back inside with a choked breath, finding a rhythm that Nitori quickly began rocking back into. He continued holding the tight swimsuit out of the way, his other hand stroking over the bumps of Nitori’s spine, causing his back to arch into the contact.

Nitori gave a broken whimper as the angle of Rin’s thrusts changed, pushing steadily against his prostate on each thrust. He paused several times to grind the head of his cock against it, prolonging the contact in a way that made Nitori’s toes curl as he keened, eyes sliding closed.

He jolted as Rin’s hand lifted away from his back, sliding under the swimsuit to wrap around his leaking cock. His whole body shuddered, the hand on him moving in time with the rough strokes taking him from behind.

He came with a strangled sound pressed into the bed beneath him, the sound of Rin’s hand around his length becoming more lewd and slick as he kept stroking through the orgasm. His hips paused for a moment, feeling the fluttering of Nitori’s hole trying to pull him in deeper. It took another handful of thrusts before his hips snapped forward, both hands clamping around Nitori’s thin hips hard enough to leave smudged bruises as the knot in his stomach came undone in a sharp tug. He emptied inside Nitori with a few aborted thrusts, breath hitching with each one.

Rin slid free with a groan, falling on the bed next to Nitori with a wide smile on his flushed face, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you think that makes up for not practicing?” He laughed as Nitori collapsed on his chest with a groan, wrapping both arms around his back, letting his small lover snuggle into him. He left a trail of soft kisses over his shoulder and neck, nuzzling softly against the lobe of his ear.

“I dunno if I want another one of those things around here babe,” he laughed softly as Nitori lifted his head, kissing him sweetly before continuing. “My heart might not be able to take it.”

Nitori laughed now, shaking his head and laying back down, smiling against Rin’s skin.

“Maybe I’ll have the Captain help me pick one,” he mumbled to Rin’s shoulder, giggling as Rin choked on air, squeezing tighter around him.


	6. Unsafe Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Omega!nitori getting harassed by other alphas and alpha!Rin getting defensive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of violence and swearing in this one, along with harrassment.

"You and I are going to have a little chat," the voice in Nitori’s ear was snarling, the heavy press of his boy holding the small omega flush with the wall behind him. He whimpered weakly, keeping his eyes cast downward, shoulders hunched to hide his neck.

He could smell the vague hint of Rin on his shirt though the dark haired alpha bearing down on him either didn’t notice or didn’t care. His hand reached out, stroking along Nitori’s silver hair before his nose hovered closer, inhaling the omega’s scent deeply.

"I-I need to go to class," Nitori mumbled out, trying to lean away from the intrusion. He wasn’t unaccustomed to alpha’s in his personal space, trying to convince him that they should mate or fuck. Even with Samezuka’s open gender policy, there was a high population of alpha’s always looking to get in. Still, this was a situation he really didn’t want to be in, his shoulders trembling as the alpha’s other hand slapped the wall by his head, making him cringe and leaving no escape route.

"Don’t lie to me pretty thing," he was growling now, close enough that Nitori could feel the hot rush of his breath on his hair. He whimpered again, curling inwards and trying to make himself even smaller. "You’ll stay right here as long as I want you to."

Nitori squeezed his eyes shut, his body language screaming discomfort. He could hear footsteps at the beginning of the hall and couldn’t only hope that they would be sympathetic and help him out.

It was the scent that reached him first, his body relaxing purely on instinct as its familiar comfort wrapped around him. He could smell the white hot threads of rage shooting through it before he heard Rin growling.

"Now would be a good time to back up," he spoke quietly, with a voice like hell frozen over. The dark haired alpha looked up with a laugh, lifting his hand away from the wall and using it to grab Nitori’s chin, tilting his head and forcing his neck exposed. His eyes roamed over the smooth, unmarked skin before sliding his thumb down the side.

Nitori gave a broken whimper, his whole body trembling. His eyes creaked open, face turned towards Rin now. There was murder in his eyes, lip curled over his sharp teeth in a loud snarl.

"Doesn’t look like he’s yours," the alpha chuckled, leaning his weight so he was between Rin and the omega, blocking Nitori’s view of his roommates face. "Besides, didn’t they teach you to share?"

Rin launched forward as his view of Nitori’s face was cut off entirely. He didn’t need to see him to read how scared he was. It wasn’t luck that brought him here, after all. His fingers wrapped harshly around the alpha’s arm, wrenching it away from Nitori’s soft throat and twisting until he heard a sickening crack.

He released the grip as he applied pressure with his shoulder, sending the dark haired alpha stumbling down the hall and clear of Nitori. Rin stepped forward again, letting the omega press close to his back. He didn’t wait for the other alpha to regain his footing, clenched fist slamming into his jaw with a growl.

"I will kill you if you touch him again," he stared down at the dark haired alpha. He wasn’t bearing over him, instead he stood straight with ice cold eyes. It was a posture of total confidence, he didn’t need to exercise any more force to protect what was his, though the ball of anger in his stomach was urging him to keep punching.

The dark haired alpha stared at him for a moment as if weighing his words. He rubbed against the bruise on his jaw, bowing his head and scooting further away before standing. Rin seemed satisfied with the submission and he turned to Nitori instead.

He glanced at where the dark haired alpha was still staring and leaned forward, licking a single stripe up Nitori’s neck, pressing his lips to the scent glands under his chin tenderly. Nitori’s trembling slowed, leaning into the contact with fluttering eyes.

Rin waited until the footsteps receding behind him were gone before pulling his face away from Nitori’s neck, pressing a soft kiss to his temple and smiling crookedly.

"Are you okay?" His smile grew when Nitori nodded, carding his fingers slowly through the omega’s silver hair. The rage inside him ebbed away when Nitori lifted his head to face him, smiling as well.

"T-thank you Senpai," usually he would scold Rin for getting into a fight, but he had restrained himself to some degree at least. He probably wouldn’t have gone so far as to break the other alpha’s hand if he hadn’t made such a show of touching Nitori. Rin kept his arm around the omega’s shoulders as they walked back together, giving murderous glares to anyone whose eyes lingered too long.


	7. The First Taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rin masturbating and while he's trying to think of some sexy girl in a tight skimpy outfit, the only thing that comes into mind is that thin, sleek, soft body that belongs to his new roommate, Nitori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100% Smut for this one! It was fun, but took me forever to decide on an outfit for Nitori.

Rin found he was extremely glad that his roommate had some kind of paper that required the majority of his evening to be spent in the library. Rin was a little spoiled by the privacy his homestay in Australia had offered, and while Nitori was nice enough to live around he did not spend enough time out and about.

He waited through twenty minutes of Nitori's absence to assure himself that he hadn't forgotten anything and wouldn't be popping back in and giving Rin a heart attack. Satisfied he settled himself into the bed, letting his eyes slip closed and his hand roam its way down his chest. He let his mind clear, his thumb rubbing patiently over the sharp angles of his hipbones. 

His mind was already conjuring up some pretty girl to admire; mostly naked with a ruffled pair of black panties and a small lacy bra. There was a black headband set in her silver hair, cat ears sticking out from it, thigh high stockings covering her pale, slender thighs.

She was crawling on her hands and knees, making cute little cat sounds at him as Rin's fingers wrapped firmly around the surprising hardness of his cock. He groaned into the still air of the room, filling it with the ragged sound of his own panting.

His mind had given up on making the image a girl, instead it was Nitori's face, with his wide blue eyes and sweet smile. He was holding a bright plastic wrapper in his mouth, pinching the hard bud of his nipple and moaning out lewdly. 

His imagined Nitori sat back on his heels, legs spread out wide. The blushing head of his cock was poking from the top of the panties, resting against his pelvis and leaking.

Rin's hand was slick from his own pre-cum, spread by the swirling of his thumb over his slit. The sound of each stroke was slick and punctuated occasionally with a groan from Rin, his other hand pushing his hair away from his sweat-dampened forehead. 

He came to Nitori poking his tongue between his soft lips, winking as his hand dipped inside the panties to tease at his length with a giggled 'Senpai!'. His mind felt like it was short circuiting, his back arched high off the bed with sharp teeth digging into his lip to hold in the long groan that came from his throat.

Rin's body felt feverishly hot, the cum painted over his stomach making his skin tingle. His eyes refused to open for a moment, savoring the erotic image of his roommate before it really sunk into his orgasm-frazzled brain what exactly he had just done. 

He sat up and cleaned himself off slowly, wondering exactly what circle of hell he had just won himself a place in. He flopped himself back into bed, putting his headphones in before wrapping the blanket firmly around himself. He tried not to think about just how good an orgasm that was, and absolutely refused to let his mind wander back to that image.  
~  
When Nitori did return, Rin was still laying morosely in the bed, blankets pulled up to his chin. The sight of his roommate made his face burn bright red and he snapped his eyes shut, brow furrowed as he tried to clear his mind out once again.

"Ah, Matsuoka-senpai! Are you feeling okay?" Nitori leaned over the bunk, forcing Rin to remove one of the headphones and shrug weakly.

It wasn't enough to convince Nitori, who pressed his soft fingers against his forehead. Rin grunted at the contact, his back already pressed to the wall leaving him unable to retreat further.

"Mmm, you feel warm Senpai! Should I get you something?" He was smiling, his eyes filled with innocent concern that Rin absolutely did not deserve. He shrugged his shoulders again, pressing further into the pillow.

"N-Nah, I'm just gonna take a nap Ai," he hunched himself into a ball, blushing deeper as Nitori's face lit up like the sun.

"A-Ai?" He asked, testing the feeling of the new nickname on his tongue. He continued smiling, walking over to the disaster zone of his desk. "I'm just gonna be studying, so ask me if you need anything Senpai!"

Rin rolled to face the wall, wondering if he was going to ever be able to look at his roommate without feeling that hot flash of arousal again.


	8. If I'd Found the Right Words to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A different alpha challenging Rin for Nitori? And possibly Rin feeling bad, like Nitori deserves a real mate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are some sads, you can take them.

Rin sometimes had to remind himself that Nitori was not actually his mate. He wanted him to be, sometimes so badly that it made his chest sting until he wrapped the omega in his arms and sat basking in his scent for as long as he could get away with. 

But Nitori wasn't his mate. They'd never really discussed it and every time they fucked Rin had to be careful with his teeth that he didn't snap and take what his instincts had already decided belonged to him. Like they were screaming at him now, watching another alpha walking close enough to him for their shoulders to touch. Rin vaguely recognized him as being from Nitori's class, probably someone he was friends judging from the way he was laughing.

Rin hunched back over his book with a little huff, even as a twitch of his ear told him that the two had come into the library as well. He was sitting towards the back, and he occasionally glanced up to survey the pair, telling himself it was just to be sure the younger alpha was behaving.

Rin was always quick to step in on anyone giving Nitori trouble, quick to show off that he was courting the pretty omega and that he was not going to take any challenge to it easy. But this was something different, Nitori was spending time with the alpha because he wanted to.

Rin's head sunk further between his shoulders, trying to ignore the occasional brush of Nitori's scent that tickled past his nose. He couldn't blame Nitori for not wanting to be his mate. The first year they'd spent together had been mostly wasted by Rin wallowing in his own problems. For months, he'd barely noticed the way Nitori was always at his side when he needed someone, even if he didn't know it himself.

Even with his aggression and mood swings, Nitori never seemed scared of him. His lips quirked into a weak smile; he hadn't really been lonely since the omega had become his roommate. He lifted his head again, blinking as this time Nitori turned towards him with a bright smile.

He said something to his companion before nearly skipping to the table Rin had set himself up at, leaning over it and balancing on his elbows.

"Senpai, I didn't know you were down here," his voice was hushed but still excited. Rin was tempted to press a kiss against his soft lips but tamped it back down, leaning back instead and nodding.

"Yeah, needed some research for a paper. Staying out of trouble?" It took a significant force of will to keep his eyes from wandering to the classmate Nitori had with him. He could feel the pressure of his glare and the temptation to show off that Nitori was his became that much stronger. 

Nitori was still smiling at him, nodding his head with a quiet giggle. Rin found himself relaxing back into a smile though it was accompanied by a pain in his chest. He'd been hoping Nitori would ask him to chase the other alpha off still. The wisps of the challengers smell on Nitori's track jacket made him twitch a little in his seat.

"Yeah, Souji-kun and I have a group project for class, so I was hoping to get it done before tonight," there was a purr attached to his words that Rin nearly missed. The blood in his veins was screaming at him to stop 'Souji-kuns' challenge, but he just nodded his head weakly.

"Ah, I see. You can send me a text when you're finished then," Rin lifted his eyes back to Nitori's face, surprised to see that his unending smile had dimmed a bit. He looked over his shoulder at an inpatient Souji but still hesitated in standing.

"O-okay Senpai. Is everything okay?" His teeth dug into his lower lip and Rin flushed a little at the concern. He shifted, reaching one hand out and ruffling Nitori's silver hair, feeling the soft strands under his fingers.

"Yeah. Everything's good Ai," he smiled as he brushed his thumb against Nitori's cheek before dropping his hand back to the table. Nitori had leaned into the familiar gesture but looked confused when Rin pulled his hand away so soon. Still he nodded and stood, glancing back as he followed Souji to a different part of the library.

Rin watched him go before huffing a sigh and dropping his forehead against the table with a thud. It was probably for the better that he act less possessive, especially when Nitori was just trying to do his own schoolwork.

He didn't deserve a mate like Nitori anyway.


	9. Not With Haste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rin's first reaction to the boyfriend shirt cuz Ai's got legs for days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. Cute. Considerate boyfriend Rin is good Rin.

Nitori sighed contentedly to himself, settling down into Rin's bunk with a smile. His roommate had gone for a shower after their jog, leaving Nitori to get changed for bed. He'd pulled one of Rin's shirts on, letting it slip off his shoulder. It was long enough to entirely cover his briefs and he stretched his legs out on the bed, curling and uncurling his toes as he played a game on his phone.

Rin opened the door and looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smile, towel draped around his neck. Something warm swelled up in his chest and he chuckled, pushing the door shut with his elbow and moving to lean into the bunk. Nitori met him as he did, pressing a tender kiss against Rin's lips, smiling into it.

"Nice outfit," Rin mumbled, stroking his fingers through Nitori's silver hair, his eyes wandering over his pale legs with an appreciative whistle. The shirt was easy to recognize his own, a grinning shark taking up most of the front. He left a soft kiss on Nitori's temple, turning to get dressed himself.

Those legs didn't leave his thoughts, and after tugging on an old pair of sweats and a red tank top he sat himself on the end of the bed, lifting them into his lap. His fingers tickled over the bottoms of Nitori's feet, eliciting a giggle.

Rin smiled at that, massaging one of his boyfriends feet firmly with his thumbs. Nitori shivered at first but let Rin continue quietly. Rin's fingers kept moving, rolling Nitori's ankle gently before massaging his calf.

They worked out one of the knots in Nitori's muscle and he moaned contentedly in response. Rin kissed his calf with a chuckle, fingers sliding over his knee to rub his thigh instead. Nitori sighed softly into the pillow, tilting his other leg so his thighs lay open. 

Rin paused for a moment, lips brushing the beauty mark high on Nitori's thigh before his hands pulled away and he sat back up. Nitori whined low in protest until Rin's hands came to his other foot. He repeated the massage, not missing the way Nitori thrust his hips up and open even further. He was half-hard, causing a bump in the fabric of Rin's shirt as he tented against his briefs.

The firm strokes of Rin's fingers up and down his legs left him feeling boneless on the bed, whimpering soft and needy into the pillow when they pulled away from him yet again.


	10. The Big Come Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Could you please write nipple play!Rintori??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a little crazy with this one, mostly because I've wanted to write Rintori praise kink for several days and this just seemed like the time to do it.

Rin was starting to enjoy the long bus rides back from tournaments. Previously they had gone from being a tedious waste of time, to incredibly tense when Nitori drifted off with his head on Rin’s shoulder, looking too peaceful for him to shrug off.

Nitori was certainly awake now, turned in the seat so that his back was pressed against Rin’s warm chest, long fingers pressing firmly into Nitori as they drew a lazy path over his nipples on top of the shirt. His teeth already dug gently into his lower lip, stifling the low whine that threatened to escape as Rin’s breath brushed hot over his ear.

"You did  _so good_  today,” his voice was low and gravelly, and to punctuate his words his finger slid further inwards, thumbs rubbing slow circles on the sensitive buds beginning to harden on Nitori’s chest. His head nodded weakly, his back arching to stretch up into the sparks of pleasurable contact. “Swam such a good race for me.”

His fingers pinched around Nitori’s nipples through the shirt, forcing Nitori to clap a hand over his mouth to muffle the low whine from the back of his throat. Rin never slept on the bus following a race, always too fired up or too critical of his own performance to rest at all. He slid his hands inside Nitori’s shirt now, his jacket already unzipped to hang loose on his slender frame.

Rin’s fingers felt searingly hot, tracing over the muscles and lines of Nitori’s chest with practiced patience. Sharp teeth grazed over the pale flesh below his ear and Nitori moaned into his hands again, back drawing even tauter as two of Rin’s fingers pinched his pebbled nipples. There was a ragged breath in his ear again.

"C’mon Ai, I wanna hear you say it," he was purring now, rotating the pink bud under the pad of his finger. Nitori’s hips bucked forward a little, cheeks flushing as his face pressed into the cool glass of the window. Rin pressed forward with him, nails digging into his skin just a little. "Tell me you’re a good boy."

A shiver passed through Nitori, his hand falling away from covering his mouth to grip onto his pants. His cock was pushing up against the relaxed fabric, tenting it out as his thighs clamped together. He rubbed them against each other, trying to create some kind of friction as Rin gave his nipple an insistent tug before sliding down to stroke over his flat stomach.

Nitori knew this game well; Rin wouldn’t give him anything more than the soft kisses dusting over the back of his neck and the patterns traced into the skin of his chest until he said it. Nitori swallowed thickly, still rolling his hips forward in little hitching thrusts.

"I’m," he whimpered a little, letting out a hard breath and trying to lower his voice. It might be easy for Rin to forget that they were surrounded by sleeping teammates, but the edge of danger didn’t leave Nitori’s mind. "I-I’m a good boy."

His cheeks burned as the words left his mouth, ducking his head a little until Rin’s fingers returned their attention to his sensitive nipples, rolling them between the rough pads of his index and thumb with a purr.

"So  _good_ ,” Rin agreed. Nitori could feel the imprint of his smile against his shoulder, whimpering at the gentle bite on his soft skin. Rin’s hands pulled back entirely now, leaving Nitori feeling cold and wanting until Rin left more words in his ear. “Turn around now.”

He nodded, shifting quickly in the seat so he was facing Rin, legs tucked underneath him with his knees spread apart. Rin crowded forward, letting Nitori lean his back against the window and pulling his shirt up to reveal the plane of his chest.

Nitori gripped the cotton fabric in his mouth without being asked, cheeks a dusky pink. Rin paused a moment, staring with half-lidded eyes, his tongue taking a quick swipe over his lips. His head ducked forward, grazing his teeth over the soft pink of one nipple, causing Nitori to moan softly into the shirt, back arching away from the cold of the window.

He could feel the shape of Rin’s smirk against his skin as he pressed a kiss into the hardened bud, tongue darting across as his other hand returned to twirling on the opposite side. Nitori panted sharp breaths out of his nose, teeth gritting harder on the fabric in his mouth as Rin’s cheeks hollowed a little, sucking the soft skin into his mouth and continuing to tease.

His knee shifted forward, resting between Nitori’s legs and finally giving him something to rut his ignored erection against. A broken whimper passed from his throat as Rin’s lips pulled off with a lewd ‘pop’, dragging his tongue once more over the tip in a languid motion. Nitori squirmed at the contact, almost letting go of the shirt in his mouth as Rin blew cool air over his now wet skin.

"That’s it, you’re so beautiful," he murmured against Nitori’s chest, grinning as Nitori continued rolling his hips shamelessly upward against Rin’s thigh. His head was floating, carried by Rin’s praise and the swipe of his tongue over the nipple that had been between his fingers.

He was greedy in sucking on it, his tongue swirling senseless patterns whenever his mouth pulled away so he could coo at Nitori or pause to bite on his pale skin. His breath hitched as he continued thrusting forward, rubbing himself shamelessly on Rin’s thigh.

Both buds were covered in red pricks now, blood flushing his skin a darker color from Rin’s diligent sucking. It felt like there were strings under his skin connecting the sparkling pleasure from every touch to his nipples directly to the arousal pooling hot in his stomach.

"Are you going to be a good boy and cum for me?" Rin asked quietly, his fingers brushing over Nitori’s dark cheeks, pressing soft kisses to the skin between his nipples, circling around the tortured skin with his lips as Nitori nodded frantically. "I want you to cum Ai, go ahead."

Nitori almost lost his grip on the shirt as reality faded only to the points of contact between him and Rin, teeth tugging one nipple sharply while his fingers mimicked on the other, grinding his cock against Rin’s thigh while thick, heavy waves of pleasure rolled through his whole body. “There you go, that’s good.”

His orgasm came like a twine snapping inside him, with several groans pressed into the fabric in his mouth. Rin’s teeth let go as he came down from the cresting waves, guiding his mouth open and letting him drop the shirt. Rin brushed his thumbs against Nitori’s nipples one last time, lips slotted together in a searing kiss as he pulled the shirt gently down to cover his skin.

Nitori panted out heavy gulps of air when they broke apart, nuzzling his face into Rin’s neck to hide the deep flush on his cheeks. Rin chuckled softly, his arms coming to wrap around Nitori and hug him close, pressing tender kisses over silver hair.

He let Nitori stay cuddled against him until the sticky mess drove him out of the comfortable spot, stumbling on uncertain legs to the tiny bathroom to clean himself up. He could swear he heard Rin mumble one more ‘good boy’ after him, sending a content shiver down his spine as the door locked.


	11. Absolute Gravity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just fluff! No prompt for this one.

Sometimes Rin is surprised by how much he misses Ai. It comes to him in a lot of ways; small ones when he's doing something that would make Ai smile, when he sees a dog while out on his morning jog, when he has to fish out his headphones on the train because the world is just a little too quiet without his endearing chatter. There are big ways too; waking up in the morning in his apartment with a cold bed, every time he loses a race and takes it just a little too hard on himself, when Ai has to call off a skype date to study or train or prepare the team for a tournament.

It's really only been a few months since Rin came back to Australia, started putting in the hours to train for his dream. It had been a little bit rocky adjusting again, but he held tighter onto his friendships instead of curling inside himself again. There were still rough days though, and that's how he ends up on the phone in the evening one Saturday, one hand rubbing his eyes as if he could chase all the doubts and frustrations away.

"Talk to me," is the first thing he says, and he can feel the tremor that works its way through his voice. Christmas is coming up, and a glance at his phone to check the date tells him that Ai's just started on break and Rin's a little more glad because he hasn't interrupted anything important. He's walking home from the pool, almost halfway there, in no mood for the train.

He lets Ai's words soothe his brain, there's a range of topics covered; he saw Sousuke last week, managed to beat Nagisa in a race at the last joint practice (Rin's glad to hear they've continued doing them), Momo accidentally released a spider in their room and Ai had spent days sleeping in Uozumi's room until it had been recaptured.

"I bought a vegetable last week," Ai finally chirps out, earning a surprised laugh out of Rin. He's not immediately sure why it's so funny, but he can hear Ai laughing and that makes everything feel more right with the world. "Gou-san keeps yelling at me about my diet so I bought a tomato."

"Thank you," Rin's smiling again, and it feels like it'll stick around for awhile. He pauses, Ai humming in response. "I miss you."

He's made it back to his apartment, key fitting tightly into the lock as he opens the door up. He's surprised when Ai doesn't respond right away, and more surprised when turning the key actually locks his door. It's not like him to keep it open? Russel and Lori have spare keys, maybe they'd stopped by for something.

"Ai?" He asks because his boyfriend has officially been quiet for way too long. He manages to get the door actually unlocked, glancing at his phone to make sure the line hasn't gone dead. It hasn't, but when Rin kicks the door shut behind him and turns to face his living room the phone clatters to the ground.

"I missed you too," Ai is giggling at him, closing the call and dropping his phone on the couch so he can pounce at Rin with both hands free.


	12. Don't Let Me Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From a headcanon I saw on tumblr! It was too cute and I couldn't not.

It had become... Somewhat of a habit for Rin after he and Ai settled into their apartment together. He would come across Ai doing some small task; washing the dishes or trying to find a place for things as he continued to unpack, only to find himself scooped up in Rin's arms (and once tossed over his shoulder) to be deposited on the closest soft surface so Rin could cuddle into him.

This time it was while attempting to finish dinner. Rin was coming home late from his practice, and as soon as the kitchen door open Ai turned with a smile, prepared to greet his boyfriend with his customary warmth. Instead, he was met with a hard glimmer in Rin's eyes that had become all too familiar over the last few weeks.

"R-Rin wait, just let me," he started, only to have one of Rin's arms wrap strongly around his waist, leaning him backwards so the other could sweep his legs off the ground. Ai accepted his fate with a little sigh, wrapping his arms around Rin's neck to help support his weight though Rin never struggled with manhandling him.

Rin was grinning as he sat them on the couch, letting one hand rest lazy and soft on Ai's hip while the other hugged them close together. Ai's silver head came to rest against his shoulder, letting Rin leave soft kisses on his forehead.

He still smelled faintly of chlorine, and even as Ai craned his head back towards the kitchen in a petulant display of concern Rin just took the chance to nuzzle against his soft lovers neck with a purr. 

It wasn't that he intended to make a nuisance of himself but after spending the last year in Australia without Ai around at all he liked being able to cuddle him whenever he pleased. Even more so now that they lived together and he could just hold him whenever he did something cute.

Like waiting in the kitchen for Rin to get home with that stupid apron Nagisa had bought him tied around his waist. Rin sighed, letting his head rest on Ai's chest just over his heart, listening to it beat steadily. His hand continued rubbing circles on his back, eyes softly closed.

"Hey," he mumbled after a moment, voice heavy with contentment. Ai laughed softly above him, his fingers stroking through Rin's vibrant hair, working the tangles out of it methodically.

"You know the stove is still on," he grinned as Rin looked up, head tilted to one side with a dusting of pink on his cheeks. Rin paused then shrugged, leaving a lingering kiss on Ai's little beauty mark and then another on his lips.

"If I let you go turn it off you have to come back," he smiled, leaving his lips resting against Ai's as he spoke, sharing the same air. "I'm not satisfied yet."

Ai nodded and stretched after sliding himself out of Rin's lap, retreating to the kitchen with a roll of his eyes.

"If I don't you'll just drag me off again, King Kong."


	13. Doin' It With A Rockstar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rockstar!AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From song prompts on tumblr! I wouldn't call this finished exactly, I'll note in the title if I update it more.

If they had left it up to Rin, backstage passes wouldn’t be allowed at all. Really, being followed around by moony-eyed girls after two hours on stage, when he was tired and really only wanted to go hide in his trailer wasn’t fun at all. At least Sousuke had listened to his whining last time and told their manager to only give out one.

He was a little surprised when he ducked off the stage to find a cute silver haired boy waiting for him. His blue eyes took up all of his face that wasn’t covered with his smile, squishing dimples onto his cheeks. Rin paused, missing whatever Sousuke said about the show as he dug the plugs out of his ears. The boy looked almost like he could be a new sound assistant or something, if not for the blue “ALL ACCESS” pass clutched in his trembling fingers. 

"Yo," Rin nodded his head, pushing his hair back with a toothy grin. The boy actually squeaked, nearly ripping the pass from his neck as he thrust it forward, smile fading into an expression of total mortification as he realized what sound he made. "You’re here to hang out with us then?"

He nodded his head at the already retreating bulk of Sousuke’s back. When the boy didn’t move right away Rin dropped a hand on his shoulder, guiding him along. “You can hang out in the lounge, I don’t like sitting around in sweaty digs.”

He winked, not missing the blush that dusted over his pale cheeks. He pushed the door to the lounge open, quirking an eyebrow.

"Ya gotta name kid?" He tilted his head a little, the boy never seeming to relax at all. He was used to more swooning and cooing, not the kind of tense excitement rolling from the slim shoulder he was still holding in waves.

"A-Aiichirou Nitori," he stumbled out, his voice a little squeaky but undeniably sweet. Rin let go of his shoulder with a little smile, more sincere than his usual toothy smirk.

"Is Ai okay?" His smile grew as Ai nodded at him, looking moonstruck. Rin nodded, giving a little wave and pushing the door to his dressing room open. "Cool, I’ll be right back. Make yourself comfortable."


	14. That's Where You're Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Rin is emotionally stunted when it comes to romance. There's some kind of tension between him and Ai, but he always ruins a possibly romantic mood between them by turning away, ignoring him, etc. He keeps on telling himself that Ai understands and one day he'll have enough courage to reciprocate Ai's feelings, but when that day came he didn't realize that Ai had already given up on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I love angst.

Rin had a romantic fantasy about how things would eventually work out between him and Nitori. He never told anyone about it, but when his mind would drift and dwell on the obvious crush his roommate had he pictured all his issues being smoothed away and Nitori being content to wait for the time it took.

There are things that don’t happen: There is no big shouting match, in fact the two of them never talk about the feelings that sit heavy and unwelcome in Rin’s stomach every time Nitori smiles at him. He didn’t count those smiles, and at first he doesn’t notice when they start to fade away. There are no kisses or confessions of his love (because Rin is sure that’s what it is) whispered into the quiet air of their shared room. The end of his second year is coming quick and Rin is actually starting to recover the pieces of his heart.

What happens is this: His swimming is stronger than it’s ever been, it seems like he and Haru can actually be friends, like his dream isn’t so far away. Rin swims harder, and Nitori floats further out of his reach.

His third-year rolls around and Sousuke comes back into his life, and his presence is the solid anchor that it had always been before, and Rin finds it welcoming. He finds less and less of Nitori in his life, and every time he turns to try and find the head of silver hair by him and doesn’t see it a little bit of something crumbles away.

It really sinks in when Rin sees his kouhai walking across the quad, holding onto the arm of some soccer player and looking totally content. His eyes are squinted shut with the force of his smile and the taller boy leans down and they kiss.

Rin doesn’t give up so easily, he tries to elbow his way back into the place he had before. He offers to walk him to class and coach him after practice after learning Sousuke had been doing so for weeks. He tries to show Nitori that he’s ready now. 

Eventually, it’s just the two of them cleaning up after practice and Rin grabs gently onto Nitori’s arm and hauls them close together. Nitori is staring at him in confusion and there’s a wary light in the back of his eyes. He doesn’t smile the way Rin wants him to. Rin kisses him anyways.

It’s so fleeting that Rin almost doesn’t feel the pressure of their lips together before Nitori shoves away from him. His head is shaking fiercely and there are tears in his bright eyes.

He doesn’t say anything, and Rin stares at the slammed door of the locker room, wondering when exactly his chance passed him by.


	15. Love is Not Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: fic where everyone in Iwatobi/Samezuka who are close friends w/ Rin talking about how good he'd look with a friend of theirs (Haru, Sou, OC?). Nitori's been planning to confess to Rin for a while but is intimidated, so when they're finally alone and he musters up the courage... he chickens out again and encourages Rin to go after that person. Rin looks he expected something else, but by the next day he's seen asking out other person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentioned/implied Harurin in this one! Also ANGST

Nitori Aiichirou was used to living in the middle of the pack. It wasn’t a surprise really; he had made the choice to attend an athletics powerhouse as a swimmer who was best described as ‘adequate’. It was harder at first, after finding out that his roommate was on the road to becoming one of Japan’s best high school swimmers.

Falling in love with that roommate was even worse. Nitori tried hard to accept himself; not everyone could shine like Rin did every time he jumped into the water. Not everyone was a winner or a leader. Nitori certainly wasn’t.

But he couldn’t let go of the hope that he might have a chance with Rin. The words ‘good enough’ were something he knew well, even if just barely. He could tell him today after their friends went home and before Rin went back to the room he now shared with Sousuke.

“Haru-chan and Rinrin are always so good together,” Nagisa chirped. The two were currently just out of comfortable earshot, having some kind of argument that made Rin’s eyes flame to life in a way Nitori couldn’t help but admire. Couldn’t help but envy.

“Mmm, it’s good to have someone to challenge you,” Makoto agreed. His voice was quiet and assured, infused with the same kind of caring for his friends that Nitori admired. He idolized everything that Rin was, but the more realistic part of his heart hoped that he could someday be like Makoto as well.

“T-that’s not always the best way though, is it?” He argued, trying to calm his tone from hurt to gentle curiosity. Makoto gave him a look that made him sure it had worked well enough. He poked his fingers together, looking back down at his lap. “I mean, sometimes it’s better to have someone who supports you.”

“Exactly correct, Nitori-kun!” Rei’s voice was prim, prepared to launch into his theory. “But strong athletes like Haruka-senpai and Rin-san bring out the best in each other this way.”

“Oh,” his voice was faded, and he risked a pleading glance at Sousuke, who gave a half-hearted shrug and leaned back on his hands. There was something close to pity in his eyes when he met with Nitori’s.

He was always quiet when the subject of Rin and Haru came up though he’d told Nitori during their practice sessions that he had no positive regard for Haru. He was good at keeping quiet about it though, especially with how the Iwatobi team seemed to universally admire him. “Do you think he’d be the best for Rin-senpai then?”

He didn’t ask anyone in particular, but Nagisa lifted his head from where it had been laying in Rei’s lap to nod enthusiastically.

"There’s no doubt, Ai-chan! Rin should totally use all his moves on Haru-chan," he giggled before flopping back down, a quiet ‘oof’ sound popping out of Rei at the impact.

~

Sousuke had decided to head back to the dorms before the Iwatobi team left, leaving Rin and Nitori to walk back together. There was a thick blanket of silence between them; Nitori lost in thoughts he didn’t know how to share and Rin not sure how to ask what was on his kohai’s mind.

"I-I think," Nitori started before shutting his mouth so hard that his teeth clicked. Rin blinked, looking down at him with one eyebrow raised.

"M-maybe I read the situation wrong," he started again, letting out an uneasy sigh. "But I think you should, um, maybe ask Haruka-san out."

Nitori wasn’t sure before he’d started speaking what to expect out of Rin but the way he sort of shrugged and looked back ahead confused him. There was something strange in his eyes before he looked away from Nitori, something that left him feeling a little unsettled.

"Yeah, Nagisa said the same thing today," he chuckled a little and when he looked back at Nitori there was a bitter edge to his smile. "Do you really think that, though?"

Nitori nodded his head, maybe just a little too quickly. He wasn’t brave enough to share his feelings, and all of Rin’s friends thought he needed someone like Haruka. Someone strong and challenging who could stand on the same level as Rin with his head held high.

No one thought it should be Nitori. Nitori couldn’t rise to the same height as Rin, no matter how hard he tried. He swallowed around the lump building in his throat and smiled so wide at Rin that his eyes squeezed shut.

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy Senpai," his voice was too high, too sweet. He lowered his tone, opening his eyes once again. "That’s all I want… to see you be happy."

He didn’t add that he wanted to be the person to make Rin happy. Still, Rin nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking away from Nitori with that same strange smile on his face.

"Well thanks, Ai."

~

Nitori’s heart sank at the next joint practice they had with the Iwatobi team. Rin had jogged out after Haru after they’d finished getting dressed, grabbing his arm and asking to talk alone for a minute.

Nitori was standing with the rest of the team now, chewing nervously as Rin and Haru walked away to talk. He knew what Rin was going to say, and the knowledge made his stomach constrict uncomfortably. He gave Makoto and Rei a weak wave, walking back to the dorms by himself.

He tried to pretend he couldn’t hear Nagisa cheering that Rin was finally ‘making his move’. He wiped the tears away roughly, glancing only once at how Rin’s back was turned to him now.

Nitori was made to live in the middle of the pack- people like Rin and Haru would always be in the lead together.

~

"Nitori told me to ask you out," Rin pushed his fingers back through his hair, ignoring for the moment that the hum from Haru sounded suspiciously like laughter. His voice was morose, glancing up at Haru with a sigh.

Haru's mouth was laid in an impassive line, but there was a note of amusement in his eyes that made Rin grit his teeth together.

"It's not funny! I really thought I had a chance," he shrugged a shoulder, bringing his hand up to rub at the back of his neck.

"You should just tell him," Haru remained unimpressed by Rin's pining. It seemed so useless to him; the way Rin had stressed and waffled about his feelings over and over again and never done anything to act upon them. "Just say what you mean, it'll be easier."

"If he's trying to set me up with you, he's obviously not interested," Rin grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He was aware that his friends from Iwatobi were watching the two of them talk, just as he was aware that Nitori had already left.

"You should still tell him," he quirked an eyebrow, throwing his bag back over his shoulder. There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he turned away. "Be free."

He heard the whistling of Rin's water bottle in the air quick enough to duck away from it, letting it fly harmlessly over it shoulder. Rin was far too easy to pick on sometimes.

~

"Um, Tachibana-san?" Makoto raised his head in surprise as Nitori addressed him quietly, giving him a gentle smile and a tilt of his head.

"What's up Nitori-kun?" He blinked a little at the scarlet working its way over Nitori's cheeks, it was evident something serious was on his mind.

"I-I'm sorry if this is too bold, but, um... N-Nanase-san," Nitori let out a deep breath, biting down on his lip for a second. "He's a very good swimmer."

Makoto tilted his head a little further, scratching the back of his neck. It wasn't a bold thing to say in any respect; people were constantly commenting on Haru's swimming ability.

"Y-you're not the same though," his voice was weaker this time, and he risked the barest of glances at Makoto. Makoto paused for a moment, considering before chuckling softly.

"No, I'm not as good as he is," Makoto smiled as Nitori brought both hands up in front of him, sputtering in surprise at Makoto's blunt phrasing. Makoto nodded his head, leaning his forearms on his knees and smiling. "It's okay Nitori-kun, I know I'm not as good as Haru-chan."

"D-does it make you feel bad ever?" He sighed softly, brushing strands of silver hair away from his face. His voice was weak, sadness threading between the syllables of his words. "I know I'll never be able to swim like Rin-senpai and Sousuke-senpai, but..."

He lifted his head, and there was a strength in his bright eyes that made Makoto draw up a little in surprise. His hand came to grip his jacket over his heart, squeezing the fabric tightly between his fingers. "I want to be able to stand by Rin-senpai's side."

His grip loosened and his face sank by degrees. "But I know I won't be able to do that. I'm not fast or strong like he is. So I think..."

He trailed off, letting his hand drop to the side and sighing weakly. He lifted his head, staring Makoto directly in the eyes now, trying to maintain his strength.

"Maybe I can stand behind him instead; Like you do for Nanase-san," he smiled softly as he finished speaking, bowing his head gently.

"I think," Makoto began, nodding his head at Nitori before looking back ahead of him. His voice was wistful and distant. "People like Rin and Haru need someone to stand behind them."


	16. Sugar Never Tasted So Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: nsfw butler Rin fuck maid Nitori? Rin just can get hold of himself becuz nitori is too cute & beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The OVA hurt my Rintori heart. This made me feel better.

Unlike most of the members of Samezuka’s swim team, Nitori didn’t mind the maid cafe outfits they wore for the school festival. His current discomfort had nothing to do with the black skirt that ended just above his knees, the white socks that hugged around his thighs or the lace trimmed headband fixed into his silver hair. His cheeks flushed further as he bobbed a sloppy curtsy, sitting another table down to be served.

“P-please enjoy your meal, Masters,” the boy sitting at the table seemed more charmed than confused by his embarrassment as Nitori made his way from the table to the partitioned off area for the members of the team. He caught a glimpse of Rin, looking totally disinterested in the actual running of the event itself. Nitori tried hard not to notice how he had one gloved hand tucked inside his pocket.

The source of his discomfort rumbled back to life inside him, Rin’s eyes leaving a prickling trail on the back of his neck as he jolted just a little. The vibrations weren’t strong yet, just a gentle sort of buzzing feeling meant to remind Nitori that the toy was there. As if it was forgettable even when it was turned off. It remained as a low hum that sent pleasure licking up his spine, making Nitori rub his thighs together just a little desperately.

So far, Rin had only turned it on when he could actually see Nitori, making his preference for actually watching Nitori come undone by degrees abundantly clear. Nitori balled his hands in the dark fabric of the skirt, letting out several shaking breaths and leaning his back against the wall. A large part of him was extremely grateful for the way the skirt fluffed away from his body, held up by its petticoat and working effectively to hide the fact that he was mercilessly hard underneath it.

Nitori pressed his back more firmly against the wall, teeth digging into the inside of his lip as it pressed the toy deeper inside, even if just a fraction. The vibrations jolted upwards for a second, sending a jolt up his spine and almost pulling a surprised squeak out of his mouth. A quick, if not subtle glance around the room assured him that at least for the moment he wouldn’t be needed, and Nitori found himself sneaking into the bathroom.

It wasn’t a helpful plan, and though he’d reminded himself to grab it on his way out the buzzing of his cell phone in his hand still made Nitori jump. He clicked open the message, finding he wasn’t surprised that it was from Rin.

No touching. Was all it read, and Nitori had to bite down on his knuckles to quiet a frustrated whine, his muscles clamping down on the restlessly humming plastic. Shivering, he shifted his grip on the phone, opening up its camera application and pulling the fluffy skirt up around his waist. His fingers quivered over the button, and Nitori had to close his eyes before he was able to actually take the picture.

He did manage a quick glance before he sent it; the head of his cock was pressing out of the overly frilly underwear that was handed out to every one of the maids as a joke. Nitori was pretty sure he was the only one wearing them, but the look on Rin’s face at them, when he was preparing to press the vibrator inside, was well worth how silly they were. It took Nitori a second to realize he was staring at the picture, the bead of precum threatening to leak over the top of his cock, grinding his hips back and forth.

With a hard swallow, he sent it, double checking that Rin would be the only one receiving it. Once the phone helpfully told him his message had been received he dropped the skirt, tongue sweeping over his lips as he checked the time. There was another hour left on his shift at the cafe, and he was becoming entirely certain that there was no possible way he was going to last that long.

His phone didn’t vibrate with a response from Rin, but the toy inside him did. Nitori bit down on another surprised moan, gripping helplessly at the door as his hips jerked with the sensation. He heard the door to the bathroom open with a dim recognition, pressing his fingers tightly over his mouth to keep his uneven breathing from making too much sound.

He couldn’t stay gone much longer without someone starting to wonder where he was, but the toy had gone from one unending stream of vibrations to pulsing in a way that made his legs quiver. He swallowed roughly, trying to push himself back to standing without the support of the door. It was hard to remember anything in the world past the sensation that was quickly reducing him to a useless puddle on the floor.

And then there were two hard knocks on the door to the stall that made Nitori’s entire body tense. He looked up at it, pushing himself quickly away with huge eyes. Had he been making that much noise? What if it was one of the members of the team here to drag him back to work?

“Ai, open up,” Rin’s voice was calm in a way that it had absolutely no right to be, and though it took Nitori’s quivering fingers an extra moment to solve the lock on the door, it wasn’t enough time to calm the terrified blush on his face. His boyfriend grinned at him, stepping into the small stall and crowding into Nitori’s space, elbowing it shut and locked again behind him. “You’re looking stressed, captain.”

Nitori wasn’t in any mood for even more of Rin’s teasing, but when he opened his mouth to argue, the vibrator switched back to thrumming in him without pause and his protest was lost to a surprised groan. Rin smirked, leaning in further and licking a long stripe up Nitori’s neck, teeth scraping gently against the pale skin.

“You know I’m keeping that picture,” he purred, hands sliding underneath the skirt and pulling Nitori’s hips against his own. Nitori’s fingers curled into the shoulders of his suit jacket, pulling the dark fabric tighter around his back. He continued shuddering, his mouth working around words that he couldn’t quite seem to push out. He slid the remote from his pocket with a wide grin, holding it in the scant few inches separating their faces. “Do you need to cum?”

Nitori nodded harshly at the question but groaned when Rin only smirked wider at him. He should’ve already known he wasn’t going to get it without actually asking for what he wanted. He gulped in another unsteady breath as Rin’s thumb pushed the vibrations higher, his other hand cupped around Nitori’s ass, squeezing to encourage it to settle deeper inside.

“Y-yes Rin, please!” He whimpered, thrusting forward towards Rin’s hips, seeking any kind of friction. Rin chuckled, pressing a button that made the toy go dead and nuzzled his face into the crook of Nitori’s neck, drawing both pale legs up around his waist and balancing his weight against the tiled wall with a grin.

“They make you call people ‘Master’ all day and you won’t do it for me?” His tone was full of mock offense and he shifted the barrier of Nitori’s underwear out of his way, fingers pushing the base of the toy in deeper. Nitori giggled breathlessly at that, fingers sliding through Rin’s hair.

“Mas~ter,” he cooed, drawing the syllables out and grinning as Rin sealed their lips together. It was an urgent kiss, Rin’s tongue already pushing through his lips while he eased the toy slowly out. He let it rest half inside for a moment, Nitori’s mouth opening further around a shivery moan as it held his hole open. Rin slid it the rest of the way out, settling it to the side with a sharp grin. He used his teeth to pull the glove off one of his hands, two fingers tracing a teasing circle around the stretched rim. They slid inside without resistance, Rin’s other hand moving from holding firmly onto Nitori’s hip to pull a slim bottle of lubricant out of the pocket of his pants.

“You know,” he purred, scissoring his fingers apart to see if Nitori would need any further preparing. Nitori’s hips rolled against them, his lips making a path over Rin’s neck above the collar of his shirt and over his jaw. “I was just gonna let you suck me off in here.”

“C-c’mon Rin,” Nitori gave a despairing whine, leaning his head back and looking at Rin with wide blown eyes, shaking his head urgently. His ankles locked together behind Rin’s back, hauling them impossibly closer. The idea was still tempting, especially with Nitori looking like he was going to explode at just the idea of having to endure another hour of teasing. But he’d always secretly wanted to fuck Nitori in one of Samezuka’s bathrooms, and it didn’t seem like another chance as good as this one was going to pop up before he graduated.

“It’ll be easier if you’re on your feet,” he chuckled, waiting for Nitori’s red shoes to contact the ground once again before letting him down, turning him to face the wall a wide smirk. Nitori looked back with a soft blush dusting his cheeks, legs spread wide apart and skirt still pushed high around his waist. Rin had removed his fingers to change their position, but Nitori’s hole was still open and inviting.

Rin hesitated, one hand resting on the fly of his dress pants, contemplating just how nice a picture that would make. He grinned, sliding his phone out and quirking an eyebrow at Nitori as he lifted it to take the shot, leaning his hips forward so his bulge pressed against Nitori’s thigh, just making it to the bottom of the frame.

Nitori didn’t protest, making eye contact with the lens of the camera instead of Rin. The blush on his cheeks darkened as it clicked and Rin tucked it away again. His hand tugged his pants open urgently now, the one still gloved squeezing lube onto his bare fingers to spread over his cock. “You have way too many of those pictures.”

It was a weak complaint; Nitori had probably taken just as many of them as Rin had. Rin shrugged at that, his low laughter ending in a moan as he pressed inside, fingers gripping tightly around Nitori’s hips. He leaned forward as his pelvis came to press into the swell of Nitori’s ass, eyes closing slowly.

"You know you’re gonna have to be quiet," he teased, his chest pressing into Nitori’s back. He let himself rest fully sheathed inside, listening to Nitori’s uneven panting. It didn’t take Nitori’s body long to adjust to the fullness of having Rin’s cock inside him and his head bobbed a quick nod after a moment.

He swallowed a groan at Rin’s first slow thrust, the pleasure of it sparking up his spine and making his back arch at nothing. His forehead came to rest against the tile wall, the cold surface making his overheated skin tingle a little. Being quiet was not a habit of Nitori’s, and as Rin settled into a rhythm of long, harsh pushes he had to bite down on his lower lip, trying to stifle the moans he was so used to making.

Rin seemed intent on making sure he was anything /but/ quiet, adjusting his angle so that his thrusts kissed against the bundle of nerves inside Nitori every time. Nitori mewled as he felt it, clapping a hand over his mouth quickly to try to keep anything else from escaping. Rin was not content with only the lewd sounds of their skin slapping together, reaching one hand forward and pulling Nitori’s hand away, lacing their fingers together with a little grin.

Nitori’s cheeks flushed, looking back at Rin and squeezing their hands together. Another shiver rippled through his spine, the aroused knot in his stomach starting to unwind as Rin continued his relentless pace.

"R-Rin-" a moan interrupted his words, staring up at his boyfriend from under his lashes, eyes hanging half-open. "Please?"

Their hands pulled apart slowly, finger lingering together before Rin’s slid under Nitori’s hips and skirt, wrapping around his precum slickened cock. Nitori gasped out sharply at the contact, his muscles tensing in a way that made Rin moan louder than he’d intended.

"O-only because you’ve been so good," he grit out, teeth scraping the exposed skin of Nitori’s neck as both his hands worked to pull their bodies even closer. Nitori’s voice dissolved into sweet, breathy whimpers, his hips rocking forward into each tug of Rin’s hand around his cock.

Nitori came with a loud whine that he quickly bit in half, teeth digging into his lower lip until he could taste a metallic tang. Rin groaned sharply from behind him, his face pressing into the cloth covering Nitori’s shoulder as his hips snapped forward with a handful of thrusts before he was emptying himself into Nitori’s rhythmically clenching hole.

Rin’s breath continued in ragged pants, trying to shift so he was leaning less of his weight on Nitori as he slid out with a slick sound that made his body shiver again. Nitori stood slowly after Rin did, groaning as his hips protested from holding his weight for so long, leaning his weight heavily against Rin.

"T-thank you, Master," he purred, his damp face pressing into the stiff fabric of Rin’s jacket. Rin chuckled, his arms winding around Nitori as he nuzzled his face into the silver strands of his hair.

"Do you wanna finish your shift? I can let you go early if you need it," he smiled as Nitori’s head shook beneath him. Their bodies peeled apart reluctantly, both of them trying to put their clothing back in order.

"Nah, I definitely feel better now," Nitori giggled at the blush that crossed Rin’s face, a familiar twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "Maybe I should keep the dress. The art club said they wanted me to model in it anyways."

Rin sputtered at the idea as Nitori unlocked the door, letting himself out with a swish of his far too attractive skirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID ANYONE EVER PICK THE VIBRATOR UP THOUGH? The world may never know.


	17. Somebody Told Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: AU where Rin goes to Iwatobi. The crew gets dragged by Nagisa to a maid cafe, where they're served by a pretty silver-haired maid that Rin kind of becomes smitten with. Nagisa wiggles his eyebrows and gives Rin's e-mail to the maid before they leave the cafe, to Rin's chagrin. The following week Iwatobi goes to Samezuka's cultural festival where Rin meets a similar looking maid again, except now she has shorter hair and is working in an all-male swim team's cafe. Basically,"This girl's a dude?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an excellent prompt, though I didn't really wanna go the route of Rin freaking out over Nitori's gender.

Rin liked visiting Samezuka overall; the powerhouse athletic school had a huge pool area that was entirely indoors. What was there not to like? He was a little lucky that Sousuke had decided on the school for their second year of high school, it gave Rin’s far smaller swimming club an in to come and practice.

That and the huge crush that Samezuka’s captain had on his little sister though Rin tried hard to ignore that fact. His phone chirped brightly from his pocket and he dug it out with a smile; pulling the message from Sousuke open with a bark of laughter.

"He said we’re not allowed at the Swim Clubs booth," he raised an eyebrow, looking at Makoto and shrugging his shoulders. Sousuke had refused to say a single word about what the booth actually was. He was so absorbed in the consideration about what that might mean that he did not hear the call of ‘please excuse me’ before he crashed headlong into the person making their way down the path.

Rin stumbled back a few steps in surprise, his neck heating as he looked down at the short maid now sprawled unfortunately on the pavement, a broken paper bag spilling its contents nearby. At first he was simply embarrassed for not paying attention until he recognized the bright silver hair underneath the frilly maids headdress.

He leaned forward, holding a hand out and smiling softly as the maid took it, tilting his head. He was entirely certain this was the same girl he had met the previous weekend when Nagisa had decided the two of them absolutely had to try out this new cafe together. Rin had not been told that it was a maid cafe, nor was he ready for how stunning the girl waiting on them was. Nagisa had even gone so far as to leave Rin’s email written on the check, setting a new high for how simultaneously annoying and helpful he could be.

"O-oh, I’m sorry! I wasn’t paying enough attention," Rin smiled at the voice, all but confirming that this was the same person. He gripped a little tighter onto the small hand in his, leaning a little further forward.

"It’s really okay. You didn’t get hurt, right?" He smiled as the silver head shook before helping the maid up with a gentle tug. He was surprised by just how easy it was, blush returning to his cheeks as blue eyes snapped to his face in surprise.

"M-Matsuoka-san! Um, t-this isn’t your school," she sounded surprised to see him though she was right, he didn’t go here. It was then he found himself wondering why she would be at an all-boys school in her work uniform.

"Y-you’re a boy?" He finally sputtered, looking at Ai’s face with wide eyes. Rin wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel with Ai looking at him like he was dense.

"Of course. Y-you thought…?" Ai trailed off, tilting his head to the side in a way that Rin found to be unfairly cute. Even with Nagisa’s near hysterical cackling over his shoulder. He scratched at the back of his neck, choosing not to answer the question of what he thought.

"S-so this is where you go? Are you leaving work or something?" He asked, nodding his head at the dress. To his surprise, Ai shook his head, a bright peal of laughter floating out of his lips.

"No. I’m part of the swim club, remember? Every year they do the Maid Cafe from Hell, so I’m helping out," he chuckled, tapping a finger against his lips in thought. "I think I’m the only one who dresses like this normally, though most of them don’t know that."

Rin was laughing hard now, and for a second Ai stared at him in confusion.

"I have another friend in the swim club… That’s probably why he didn’t want me coming to the cafe," Rin smirked, leaning over to help regather the food that Ai had been carrying. "You can show us where it is then."

He nodded over his shoulder at the rest of the Iwatobi team waiting, Nagisa waving far too emphatically as Ai finally noticed him. He bowed his head demurely though Rin saw the little grin on his face.

"Of course. Follow me, Masters!"

~

Rin was extremely disappointed to find that Sousuke was not wearing a maid dress like he had hoped. Instead he was working in the back as the cook, he raised a surprised eyebrow as Ai led Rin back through the curtain.

"Yo. Sousuke," he waved, chuckling a little. "Were you trying to save me from your cooking or something?"

Sousuke rolled his eyes and shrugged, choosing to ignore Rin. Instead, he took the bags that Ai had been carrying, raising an eyebrow at the obviously torn one.

"You get lost Ai?" He asked, and Rin was a little surprised by the genuine concern behind Sousuke’s usual calm tone. Ai smiled and shook his head, adjusting the fluffy skirt of his dress.

"I just tripped," he smiled and by the way Sousuke rolled his eyes it was clear that Ai probably tripped regularly. He nodded at Rin before ducking back through the curtain.

"S-so you know him?" Rin asked awkwardly, leaning his elbows on the counter next to Sousuke’s small cooking station. He nodded, seeming a little distracted by the rice he was frying. "H-he works at an um, cafe, that Nagisa dragged me to."

Sousuke glanced up at that before nodding once, his mouth quirking up into a small smile though he didn’t say anything.

"Y-you probably don’t know.. But is he um, seeing anybody?" He asked, cringing a little and looking away. He didn’t see the way Sousuke’s shoulders tensed, curling inwards before he spoke.

"Rin, he’s my roommate," he voice was low and Rin jumped to standing stock straight at that. Sousuke had told him a little about his roommate; how at the start Sousuke had found him annoying, the way he traced after every step like a duckling. Except Sousuke had told him weeks ago that he was pretty sure he had  _feelings_  for the kid that were not annoyance in the least.

"Oh," Rin glanced backed, more wide-eyed than he intended to be. "Well, fuck."


	18. Remains of Summer Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know we’ve never talked before but there is a friggin huge spider inmy apartment can you kill it for me” au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this story, it's dedicated to my friend Birdie.  
> If you hate it, blame my friend Birdie.

Living in Tokyo was something that Nitori Aiichirou found suited him just fine. He didn’t mind the claustrophobic crush of people, generally it made him feel less like he was all alone. It was nice on a Friday evening when he was riding the train back to his apartment alone.

He pushed the door open with his shoulder, easing inside and wishing the building he lived in allowed him to keep any kind of pet. He turned towards the empty kitchen and his gaze was caught by the large, fuzzy black ball that was sitting on the counter.

He didn’t see the spider for what it was until the devilish creature scuttled towards him. He fell back against the open door with a scream that would have woken even the dead. The thing was big enough to easily pass for a kitten. Ai backed out entirely, the rent for the month was paid and the spider seemed just as intent add using his bed for the night as he was.

It was of course then that his far too attractive redhead neighbor took an interest in his screaming, causing Ai to stumble back into him. It was the surprise of warm flesh and hard muscle that made him scream once more.

As attractive as Ai found his neighbor, he was far too terrifying for Ai to consider making friends with. He had molten eyes and a smile they made Ai think of the way a shark might try to charm a fish. Ai tumbled to the ground after the impact, rubbing his back and staring up with cheeks that he was sure were redder than they’d ever been before. His neighbor was holding his hands in front of him, looking surprised but not overly bothered.

“Oi oi, what’s the problem?” He questioned, leaning forward and offering a hand to pull Ai off of his ass. He took it with a flush, standing and scratching the back of his neck, embarrassment darkening his cheeks further.

“S-sorry! There, um,” Ai hesitated, glancing back at the door with a shudder. “There’s a huge spider in my kitchen and it really scared me.”

The redhead raised an eyebrow before shaking his head and stalking into Ai’s apartment. Ai blinked softly before taking another step backward and tilting his head. He came back out a moment later, the monster that had made its home in Ai’s kitchen perched on a paper towel and Ai recognized as being one of his own.

His neighbor tossed the arachnid over the railing of the stairs before turning to Ai with that dangerously charming smile.

“There we go. No more screaming?” He asked, but there was no annoyance behind it. Instead he laughed, tilting his head. “I don’t think we actually know each other. I’m Rin.”

“I-I’m Nitori, uh, Aiichirou,” he amended the introduction after realizing that Rin didn’t give his surname at all. Rin smile softened at that, looking more human than it had before.

“You’re a student right?” He paused then laughed at himself, scratching the back of his head for a moment. “That sounded weird. I just kinda figured since you’re pretty young to be living by yourself…”

He trailed off and Ai found himself far more at ease with the realization that Rin was not the flawless sea god that he had feared. He nodded, smiling a little as well; it had been awhile since anyone had taken and actual interest in anything about him.

“Y-yeah, I’m studying at Tokyo University to be a vet. I work at a bakery too,” Ai supplemented and was surprised again when Rin nodded.

“I-I think I’ve been. You leave in the uniform in the mornings sometimes too,” he kicked at a pebble next to his foot before lifting his head. “A vet, huh? You like animals then?”

This was territory Ai was comfortable with. He nodded his head, turning back to the apartment and nodding at Rin to go inside. He talked about his love for dogs as he prepared a kettle of tea in thanks for killing the spider.

It took a little prodding to get Rin to actually talk about himself. Ai tried asking a few ways what he did for a living only to have them flawlessly avoided until Rin was almost finished with his second cup of tea.

“I’m actually uh, an Olympic swimmer. Well, professional I guess?” He paused, seeming to consider it hard for a moment. “I won a gold, but I guess during the off years I just count as a pro.”

Ai was entirely uncertain how to respond to that. He blinked his eyes furiously, fingers clenching around the body of his mug.  
“Does that make you like, the world’s best swimmer?” He blinked again, his voice sounding more skeptical than as awed as he felt. It was strangely easy to believe the way that Rin chose to phrase it.

“Um, only in the men’s 200m butterfly,” he laughed, leaning back in the seat and staring at the ceiling for a moment. Ai stared as soon as Rin looked away, feeling entirely starstruck. “It’s not that exciting when you think about it. I was only gold for one event.”

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away again, a flush on his cheeks. Ai found himself laughing at that, leaning forward with a smile.

“Is everyone who goes to the Olympics so modest or is that just you?” He smiled, feeling triumphant when Rin chuckled in response. In the end, he just shrugged his shoulders, looking down into the empty cup with a wistful smile.

“I dunno. I dreamed of getting that far for a long time. I mean I’m probably going to swim in the next one too but I guess,” he looked up, tilting his head and pushing strands of red hair away from his face. “I’m in the market for a new dream, I guess.”

There it was again, that feeling of being so awed by having this person sitting in his kitchen that Ai didn’t know what he was supposed to say. He wasn’t sure if it would be easier to believe he had dreamed up Rin entirely after hitting his head on the pavement than to formulate a response to a story like that.

“T-thank you,” he finally mumbled out and flushed when Rin looked at him a little strangely. “F-for getting rid of the spider!”

“Oh! Yeah, no problem. I lived in Australia for awhile; that poor little thing wasn’t a problem for me,” Rin grinned and Ai wondered what kind of a horrible place Australia must be for that spider to seem small. “Anyway, the tea was great. I guess I’ll see you around?”

Rin slid his chair back, standing and stretching with a wide smile. Ai took the chance to discreetly admire the way his muscles pulled taut under the slim tank top he had been wearing the whole time. He nodded belatedly, bowing his head as Rin turned to let himself out.

“Oh, um, Ai?” Rin hesitated, his hand locked around the doorknob. “I’m gonna sound stupid but, do you wanna go get dinner tomorrow?”

Ai nodded stupidly, still trying to process what strange turn of events could have possibly led to an Olympic gold medalist not only being his neighbor but asking him out on a date. Rin smirked and nodded his head in what was probably happiness before leaving.

Head trauma be damned, Ai decided, he had probably died.


	19. Fragile and Dear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another short fluff piece, more omegaverse

It always felt like a special pleasure to Rin, watching Ai lay fast asleep in his arms. The omega was prone to staying up too late and crunching himself into whatever space on the bed Rin wasn't currently occupying, making the mornings when Rin woke up actually holding onto him fairly rare. 

This was one of those days, when Rin had woken up just after the sun had risen and wasn't willing to break the spell that held the room in serene silence. One of his hands was spread over Ai's back, his shirt crumpled around his hips in a way that let Rin just brush with his pale skin. His other arm was pillowed under the omega's head, muscle and flesh replacing cool fabric. 

He curled Ai just a little closer with a warm smile on his face, letting their foreheads rest together. He had to curl his legs a little tighter to fit his long body on the bunk, but the proximity was more than worth it. Ai's breathing changed slightly, a low purring sound floating from the back of his throat.

Rin's face felt hot and he nuzzled their heads together, letting his eyes drift shut as he enjoyed the sound of total contentment. It wasn't that Ai didn't purr at him often, but Rin never tired of hearing it. The smile on his face felt light as air, and his arm under Ai's head curled, letting him stroke his fingers through the fine strands of silver hair.

As much as he wanted to see those blue eyes blink open and realize their position with just as much happiness as Rin had, it wasn't worth cutting off that purring sound. His fingers brushed through the downy hair covering the nape of Ai's neck before ghosting over the dark red mark that sat high on the side. 

A small thrill jolted through him at the contact with it. He probably touched it more than Ai did; moments like now when he wanted to feel how it was connected to his very soul, or when he needed a reminder of just how concrete the love between them was. The omega's purring only swelled as Rin's thumb came to rest gently against the outline of his teeth. It felt like it was vibrating his skin, reverberating in his skull and overflowing in the quiet of the morning air.


	20. Together We Will Live Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by this wonderful comic; http://l-a-l-o-u.tumblr.com/post/108751897513/morning-ritual-feat-shirtless-mako-and-sleepy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't watched Korra, so my only thoughts were sleepy prince boyfriends and sexy cops, leading to future fish fluff.

The chiming of the alarm Rin had set on his phone always annoyed him out of bed without fail. It was laying on the nightstand next to him, plugged into the wall as it continued to vibrate. He pushed his palms into his eyes, groaning and rolling over to cease its horrible noise.

Almost as soon as it ceased there was an indignant groaning from the pile of blankets behind him, a pale arm thrusting out of their depths to snake around his waist. He found himself chuckling, leaning backwards for a moment into the way the stray appendage worked to tug him back into the bed.

"Riiinn," the whimpering finally managed to form his name, Ai's ruffled silver hair starting to peek from under the heavy blanket. Rin couldn't help but smile, still shifting in an attempt to slide out of the bed. "Too early. Why are you up?"

"I have to go to work," He was certain Ai was totally aware of this though it clearly didn't stop him from asking. Or for whining out in absolute despair, worming his way across the bed to press his forehead against the bare skin of Rin's side.

"Too early," he repeated, his other arm winding around Rin and making a feeble effort to drag him back into the warm nest of blankets. Rin couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, lifting each hand from his waist and pressing a kiss to the knuckles. He shifted himself away from any further reaching from Ai, stretching before turning to pull his uniform on.

Ai tugged the blankets back around himself, but his eyes remained at least mostly open, watching Rin get dressed. When he turned to the bathroom he was surprised by the rustling that signaled Ai crawling out of the bed as well, following after Rin.

"You work too hard," He leaned on the doorframe, watching Rin with a smile that was fuzzy around the edges. He'd pulled one of the blankets with him and had it wrapped around his shoulders like a cocoon. Rin smiled as he finished, standing and rolling his eyes as he looked down at Ai. He looked so small wrapped up like that and the affection that filled up Rin's chest was like a magnetic force.

He wrapped Ai up in his arms, laying his lips on Ai's forehead in a kiss that had the barest amount of pressure behind it. "Everybody else works just as hard as I do."

Ai just groaned as Rin slid past him, continuing to trail behind his steps. Rin tugged his hat on with a smile, trying to recall the last time that Ai followed him around like this. He continued to hover as Rin brewed himself coffee, sitting down with a chuckle.

He expected Ai to take the seat across from him, but instead silver hair brushed his cheek. Ai's head was heavy and warm on his shoulder, and the pressure of it laying there was more than welcome.

"Tell Sousuke to take your shift," Ai mumbled out, his words fanning warm against Rin's neck. Rin simply rolled his eyes, lifting a hand and ruffling Ai's hair further.

"He's my partner. If I'm working he is too," he couldn't help but laugh at the dramatic groan from Ai. He could feel the flutter of eyelashes as his eyes drifted closed.

"There are bad guys out there," Ai grumbled as Rin stood. He nodded, turning and smiling down at his partially awake boyfriend. Ai wobbled a little on his feet, yawning sweetly as he tried to hold Rin's gaze.

"I know, that's why I have to go," he pressed a finger to Ai's nose as he spoke, laughing as his eyes crossed to stare at it. With a toothy smirk, he swooped forward, gathering both Ai and the blanket into his arms. There was a little squeak as he lifted him away from the ground, carrying him back to the bedroom. "I'll be just fine Duckling."

Ai nodded against his chest, leaving ghostly kisses against the bottom of Rin's jaw. Rin settled him on the bed, peppering kisses all over his face in return. He didn't stop until Ai was trying to squirm away, giggles bubbling past his lips.

"Now quit worrying and get some sleep," Rin grinned at the telltale fluttering of his eyes, leaving one final kiss against the beauty mark he always admired. Ai nodded his head, cuddling back in with a satisfied sound.

"Nnn, okay," he lifted his head weakly as Rin walked back to the door, giving him that same fuzzy smile that made Rin's chest swell like it might burst. "Love you, Rin."

"I love you too," he chuckled as Ai flopped back onto the mattress, closing the door quietly behind him.


	21. King and Lionheart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt was for Prince/Knight AU with Ai as Rin's clutzy knight. Warning here for violence, blood and ambiguous character death

Rin wasn't sure what kind of joke his sister was trying to play on him. They'd argued several times over his refusal to select a knight; he was trained just as well as any of them and could protect himself easily, there wasn't any need to assign someone for his personal protection. She wouldn't give up though, insisting that it wasn't right for a prince to have only himself to rely upon.

In the end, she'd simply picked a knight for him. He was younger than the prince himself, with hair as bright silver as his armor and earnest eyes that made Rin certain he'd never had to draw blood in a real fight. But as soon as he and Rin were introduced he'd dropped down to one knee and pledged his life so solemnly that Rin couldn't find it in his heart to laugh the boy off. 

It felt more like raising a baby duck than having someone around to protect him. It was clear that being in service to the prince made Nitori nervous; he was always so intent on Rin that he was a liability to himself. Rin made it a habit not to speak while walking with him after Nitori tripped and went rattling down the stairs. Still, he was determined and always sincere. Rin learned from his insistence that Nitori spar with him that he wasn't a poor fighter by any stretch though he was rarely able to actually defeat the prince.

He settled into the empty spaces in Rin's life, and he was endlessly fond of his sisters little joke.

"Say Ai," he asked one evening, bent over his desk and reading a proposal with furrowed brows. He dropped the formal titles whenever it was just the two of them, preferring instead to just address the knight by the same nickname his comrades used. "What made you want to be a knight?"

He looked up to where Nitori was standing in his post, a few feet from the door with a relaxed smile on his face. The palace was wrapped in layers and layers of safety, and even if he had his sword strapped to his hip he had more simple clothing over the constant layers of armor. 

"I suppose I just wanted a chance to help people. My family had enough standing to send me as a squire and I guess I never considered doing anything else after I started," his smile turned a little shy, rubbing the back of his head. "I never thought I'd be given such an honorable posting."

"As much honor as there is in following me around all day," Rin teased, rolling his eyes a little. "Are you disappointed then? That you're here rather than working with civilians."

Nitori's eyes went round and bright at the suggestion of being disappointed by serving Rin and he shook his head hard. Rin gave a small shrug, tilting his head. He liked having Nitori around, more than he probably should have, but it seemed like a waste of someone who had a genuine desire to be of real service.

"I-I could never be disappointed in working with His Royal Highness," he responded, continuing before Rin could scold him for using the title. "Besides, keeping you safe... As much as I am able, helps everyone, doesn't it?"

Rin blinked at that, a little taken aback by the answer. He pushed away from the desk and stood with a smile on his face. He crossed the room in long strides, his feet silent on the heavily carpeted floor until he was crowding into the shorter knights personal space.

"That's a diplomatic answer," his voice had dropped down to a purr and his fingers curling around Nitori's cheek with his grin only growing wider. He dipped his head, letting their lips rest inches apart for a moment. "Are you trying to charm me now?"

Nitori, despite his flushed cheeks, was the one to close the distance between them and slide their lips together. His eyes close and Rin smiles into the kiss, resting his hand in the small of the knights back. It's another benefit of the loss of the armor, he thinks, that he can feel warmth where they press together. They break apart again after a moment, Rin still holding Nitori comfortably against him.

"Always, Your Highness," he purrs, giggling and the way that Rin rolls his eyes. A finger comes to press against his lips and he lays a kiss on the tip of it.

"I told you before, just Rin," he slides his thumb over the swell of Nitori's cheek, letting it brush the beauty mark under his eye. Nitori smiles though his cheeks are pink under Rin's touch.

"Is that an order?" It's always a game when he asks, challenging how Rin hates having to be bossy. Rin grins a little, tilting Nitori's face up and planting another kiss on his lips.

"I never order," he smirked, speaking with their lips hovering just apart. "I only suggest."

It's later with Nitori sleeping naked and peaceful beside him that he does whisper just one order into the quiet air.

"Stay with me."  
~  
Rin hated traveling. Spending hours on horseback before sleeping in a tent best described as 'flimsy' was something he did his level best to avoid, usually sending Gou in his stead. But Rin also hated war, and sometimes there were engagements that required him to endure one to prevent the other.

Even if there was no outright hostility between Rin's nation and their neighbor, the rocky relationship was enough to make him feel unsettled. He recommended Nitori share a tent with him, glad for the excuse to keep the small knight close. 

When they were together there he wrinkled his nose as Nitori insisted on keeping his sword drawn and sleeping between Rin and the entrance. The idea of him having to pick up the blade and fight on Rin's behalf made his heart beat just a little faster than he was comfortable with.

"The guard outside rotates all night, don't let me catch you trying to stay up too," his scolding was half-hearted. Nitori laughed and it sounded like the bright peal of a bell, settling onto the blankets he had piled on the ground in place of a bed. Rin was sitting on his own, eyebrow raised.

"Of course Your Highness," he winked as Rin grunted at the address. He lay down with a soft sigh, tracing his eyes over the knight with a soft smile before closing them. It was a struggle to clear his head of thoughts of love and politics, but he managed to push them away long enough to drift off to sleep.

He woke to the sound of metal clashing and a shadow looming over where he slept. The back of the tent had been cut away and moonlight streamed into the small space. There was a shout and another high-pitched clang before awareness flooded into Rin's mind.

Someone had cut their way into his tent while he was sleeping, and that person was now fighting with his knight. The intruders back was turned, and he could see Nitori's teeth locked together in a grimace, both hands wrapped tight around the hilt of his sword. The intruder pushed forward, his own blade bearing down with his superior height, but Nitori refused to falter backward.

Rin pushed himself out of the sleepy haze in his brain, rolling himself out of the tent through the hole, putting distance between himself and the fighting. He cursed himself for being unarmed, letting the safety of home make him complacent and stupid.

Nitori shouted, sucking air harshly through his teeth as a red line bloomed across his stomach. The entry to the tent had already been pushed open by the guards stationed outside but in the limited space the tent offered they could barely draw their own blades.

Nitori's eyes burned, and it was a look that Rin had never seen before on his face. It was pain and rage and he lunged forward, twisting under the slash that sought to wound him further. His strike carved through the would-be assassin's side, sending him reeling back a surprised step.

The pupil's of his eyes had shrunk to pins, leaving them move endlessly blue than Rin had ever seen him. Anger twisted his face further and his attack didn't stop until he had driven the man to the ground. The sound that ripped out of his mouth was wordless and didn't cease until after the point of his sword drove through the attackers chest.

He stood for a moment, staring down without expression before his legs wobbled and gave under him. Rin rushed forward, nearly tripping over the body on the ground between them. Nitori had sunk to his knees and Rin put a steadying hand on his shoulder, pulling one of the knight's arms away from the wound on his stomach. He stared at the blood spilling over his skin, his own rushing through his ears so loudly he almost didn't hear Nitori speak.

"Y-your Highness are you alright?" His eyes were on Rin's face, trying to push himself to sitting upright rather than leaning on the prince for support. When Rin didn't respond he moved further before crumpling with a hiss. "R-Rin?"

The use of his name pulled the prince out of his daze, staring down at Nitori's face now. He looked pale, almost far away and Rin moved to pull his head into his own lap almost automatically. One of the guards was tying a makeshift bandage around the wound, speaking quick words to the other that he tried not to hear.

"I'm fine," his voice sounded too quiet and he wondered if Nitori would even be able to hear it over how loudly his heart was pounding. He smoothed his hands over silver hair. The knight was smiling, reaching a hand forward and tangling his fingers through Rin's, something sad and faded in his eyes.

"I'm glad you're okay," his smile was weaker, and his eyes blinked furiously like it was too hard to make them focus. Rin swallowed around the lump forming in his throat, glancing up at the guard who was giving a slow, sad shake of his head.

"Ai," he looked back down at the knight's face, tilting his head gently to bring their eyes together. "Listen to me, I need you to stay with me."

"I-is that an order?" His voice was weak, and it sounded like a genuine question this time rather than the coy challenge it usually was. Rin nodded, gripping their hands tighter together.

"Yes. That's an order."


	22. The Greater Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Prince Ai is terribly fond of fairy tales and the love stories in them. Knight!Rin being all,"Wtf, why have that when I can protect you before you get into dangerous situations". (Bonus points for Rin being committed to the fairy tale fluff by carrying Ai princess-style or something)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had a fluff idea the first time I looked at this prompt, but instead I thought of this horribly sad thing. Enjoy.

"Rin!" The prince was smiling up at him like they hadn't seen each other in days. The bed he was laying in made him look so small that the knight's chest ached, even as he slid himself into the empty space. It was late, and even though Ai had promised he would be asleep before Rin came in, there he was cuddling himself blissfully into Rin's side. 

"Tell me the story," he said, somewhere between a request and a command. With a nod, he wrapped his arms around the prince's slender shoulders. Usually he would scold him for staying up after such a long day, but he couldn't say no to the bright blue eyes staring up at him imploringly. 

"Alright, but you're going to sleep after," he grinned as Ai nodded eagerly as if Rin didn't tell him this story whenever he asked. "Once upon a time, there was a kingdom with five princes. Four of them were strong warriors, and they tested their might against each other every day to see who would be king."

"The youngest prince couldn't fight like his brothers; his lungs were weak and his body was small, but he was so beautiful all of the people in his kingdom were sure he was the child of the moon itself. Each of his brothers went out into the world to become stronger, and the youngest prince was left behind," Ai sighed quietly at his words, lifting one of Rin's hands and lacing their fingers together. He was still watching the knight speak with keen interest.

"None of his brothers returned, and all alone the young prince cried for his family. He knew the world was dangerous and he thought that he was so weak he would surely be swallowed up by it," Rin was frowning, looking down at where their fingers entwined.

"But he was wrong," he shifted at this, pressing a kiss to the crown of Ai's head and resting a hand over the beating of his heart. "The prince wasn't weak, he had the strongest heart that anyone had ever seen. But he couldn't fight, so he found a dragon to keep him safe."

"Rin..." Ai lifted his head, something sad and lost in his eyes. Rin paused, tilting his head for a moment and waiting for what the prince had to say. He didn't usually interrupt the story. Instead he shook his silver head, sighing weakly before continuing. "The dragon falls in love with the prince, right?"

"Yes, he does. The dragon loves the prince because he can see what a treasure his heart is, and he promises that no matter how dangerous the world gets he'll always keep the prince safe," Rin paused again, leaning forward and capturing Ai's mouth with a soft kiss. The prince still isn't smiling when they break apart, his lips twisted into a soft frown.

"I'm getting married Rin," he says quietly, and the knight can feel the way his shoulders tremble. Something hot and angry and helpless bubbles inside of him and he closes his eyes before pulling Ai into his lap, holding him closer. He bites down on his lip, stroking his fingers through Rin's hair before continuing the story. "The prince loves the dragon too. He's not alone anymore, and even though he misses his brothers he doesn't cry. The dragon helps him take care of the whole kingdom and they're happy together."

"Yeah," Rin agrees, finding his voice again slowly. He's told the story to Ai thousands of times, holding him close and reminding him that his body didn't make him weak. Reminding him that he wouldn't run off to the same war that had killed his brothers and left Rin without a father. This isn't how the story ends. "They're happy, and even when people try to take the prince away the dragon is too strong. No one can defeat how much he loves him."

They kiss again and Ai is still trembling. Rin continues kissing him; his lips, both round cheeks, over his nose and forehead and delicate neck. It's when he presses one over his heart that Ai finally smiles a little, eyes wet with tears he's struggling not to shed.

"When?" Rin finally asks, the word tasting sour in his mouth. Ai loves these fairytales, it's why Rin decided to give him his own. It's why when he's feeling tired Rin scoops him in his arms and carries him anywhere he wants to go. Fairytale prince's don't have to get married to solidify alliances, but Ai does.

"Two months," his voice wobbles, his fingers digging into the fabric of Rin's nightshirt as he presses his face to the knight's chest. "I- I don't know what to do, Rin."

Rin smoothes down Ai's hair, closing his eyes and trying to lock the part of himself that wants to break down crying as well deep into the back of his mind. Ai needs his strength, and he's never faltered in giving it.

"It'll be alright," he wants to promise that he'll go with Ai and kill anyone who dares to treat him badly, but he doesn't. He won't swear anything to him he can't keep. Every suitor that's come in search of Ai's hand had hated Rin, the way the knight hovered endlessly right behind the prince, evaluating their every motion with a scowl on his face.

He'd hated every single one of them just as much. He held the prince steady, letting him sniffle through his tears and searching for something else to say. He couldn't find it, words threading uselessly with the pieces of his heart that were breaking away. Instead he repeated himself, rubbing Ai's back and assuring him over and over that it would be alright.


	23. The Air Near My Fingers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not really prompted, but I did get a few questions on my tumblr asking about headcanons of Nitori having asthma.

"Ai-senpai! Race me!" Momo was practically clinging to Ai's back, ignoring the fact that they were both shirtless and still wet from the laps they'd swam already. Ai groaned weakly, looking back at him and scratching his head.

"We swim different strokes Momo-kun..." He protested, but it was weak and had no effect on Momo's apparent desire to race his roommate. He slapped a hand to his chest, puffing it out dramatically.

"I'll swim freestyle against you!" He grinned, opening one eye to read Ai's reaction and leaping in the air when he nodded. It was still a little reluctant, but he pulled his cap on anyway. The practice was over anyway and one more quick race wouldn't hurt anything.

"Okay Momo-kun, we can go when the hand hits 60," he leaned over, fingers touched against the starting block as he eased into position after pulling his goggles down (and imitated the way Rin would always snap them against his head, for luck.)

He watched the seconds on the clock tick away and could swear he heard a distant cheer just as it hit the 60 second mark and dove into the water.

It only took half a lap for Ai to feel something was wrong. He was pushing himself hard for speed, but every time his face pulled out of the water it felt like his lungs wouldn't quite fill all the way. He hit the turn weakly, barely propelling himself away from the wall.

In invisible fist came to squeeze around his chest, pushing the air out of him in a bubbly gasp. His arms burned as he tried to pull himself through the lane, legs weakly kicking before drifting uselessly behind him. 

There was a splash somewhere to his side, his face floating just under the surface of the water as a familiar burning took over his lungs. Strong arms wrapped around his waist and he was hauled above the water. He huffed out a weak breath, a weak rattling accompanying the one he tried to draw in.

His goggles colored the world funny, but he was able to recognize Rin pulling him through the water before passing his body to Sousuke standing at the edge of the pool.

Rin hauled himself out, stopping dead to listen to Ai's struggling breath for a beat before kneeling down and helping him sit up. The concern on his face was just barely restrained, but his hand rubbing circles on Ai's back was soothing.

"Ai, where's your bag?" He asked quietly, head snapping up as Ai nodded at the locker room with a labored smile. Rin bit down on a groan, nodding as Sousuke was already up and moving. "Okay. It's in there right?"

Ai nodded, trying to focus on drawing air into his lungs. It felt like swallowing glass with each breath in and he leaned into the warm pressure of Rin's hand. He looked a little relieved.

"Can you talk to me?" He asked, and the same thread of nerves was back in his voice, glancing at the door to the locker room as it banged open once again.

"Y-yeah," Ai mumbled out, nodding as Rin immediately went to digging through the black bag that Sousuke handed to him. Momo was hovering a foot away, wringing his hands together and looking like he was prepared to cry. Rin pulled the small, bright red inhaler out and pressed it into Ai's hand.

"Good. You're okay," he assured, watching Ai shake it before depressing the button several times and breathing in. He looked up with a smile when he finished, though his fingers still quivered around the plastic.

"T-thanks Rin-senpai. I'm okay," he smiled a little wider as Rin visibly relaxed, ruffling his hair and laying an unsteady peck on Ai's cheek before standing, a shadow passing over his face.

"Momotaru," he growled, reaching out and gripping his hand around Momo's head, frowning deeply. "No more after practice racing."

Momo nodded, squeaking as Rin gripped his head. He looked more shaken than Ai felt, and Rin nodded and let him go before leaning down and hoisting Ai up into his arms.

"S-senpai! I can walk just fine!" Rin shrugged off Ai's protest, holding his bag and grinning a little. He kissed Ai's blushing cheek again before carrying him off to the locker room.


	24. The Secret's In The Telling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt:au: Rin & Ai are stepbrothers who live together & secretly show romance affection (or sexual tension) on each other when their parents are not with them (btw they also confessed each other feelings, so they also secretly date?)

Rin hadn’t really ever expected his mom to get remarried, and so when she announced getting engaged to a man he’d only had a chance to meet twice he was… Skeptical to say the least. Gou was happier about the prospect of having another brother than anything else it seemed, even if he was a first year in high school just like she was. It wound up with Masahiro Nitori and his son Aiichirou moving in with them, and Rin splitting his room with the boy because Gou couldn’t be expected to share with either of them.

It was a problem right up until it wasn’t. Now they were sitting next to each other at the dinner table, Rin’s hand resting placidly on his own knee, angled so his fingers brushed against Ai’s leg as well. He didn’t seem to take any notice of it, quietly eating his food and only holding very slightly when Rin’s hand came to rest on his knee instead. It was more fun than it should have been to tease Ai like this, drawing his fingers in lazy circles just at the bottom of his shorts, tracing over the fabric to his thigh.

Ai’s cheeks were tinged pink, but his legs shifted open regardless, still smiling at his meal and chatting pleasantly whenever Gou said something to him. Rin was struggling not to grin, squeezing the top of Ai’s thigh firmly and feeling his hips tip upwards just a little. Ai glanced at him from the corner of his eye like he was trying to predict if Rin was going to do anything other than tease him. It seemed like a challenge so Rin took it, drawing two fingers in a straight line up the small bulge in his shorts, feeling Ai just starting to get hard under his hand. Ai swallowed a little harder at that, frowning just a little as Rin left his palm resting there without moving further. He shifted a little restlessly in the seat, trying to rub himself into the light pressure of Rin’s palm.

Rin smirked just a little, drawing his hand away before Ai could wiggle himself into real trouble, ignoring the way he disguised a tiny whimper with a weak cough. Rin stood once people were finished, flashing Ai a smile and gathering the dishes up himself, waving off Gou’s attempt at helping.

“I’ll wash ‘em, don’t worry about it,” he smiled, carrying them back into the kitchen and listening to the dim sounds of her and Ai talking once again. It was nice that they got along as well as they did; Ai had seemed a little awkward with the change in schools until he and Gou had convinced him to join the swimming club with them. He heard Gou drifting off to her room not long after, still up to his elbows in warm water when Ai padded into the room on quiet feet. He stopped a foot away, crossing his arms and looking up at Rin with a pout.

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” he grumbled, his disgruntled expression melting when Rin looked over his shoulder with a grin. He huffed a little like he still wanted to be mad but couldn’t quite find it anymore, stepping forward and leaning his head against Rin’s shoulder instead. “I’ll dry and put away if you say you’re sorry.”

There was a teasing lilt to his voice and Rin laughed, turning to plant a kiss on the top of his head. “That would be lying because I’m very not sorry.”

“So mean,” Ai rolled his eyes, giving Rin a playful shove before turning to dry the dishes anyway. Rin dried his hands off once they were finished, glancing at the doorway with a raised eyebrow before pressing against Ai’s back, trailing feather-soft kisses down the exposed nape of his neck. Ai shivered a little, giggling at the ticklish feeling of Rin’s lips ghosting his skin. He leaned back into the warmth of Rin against his back, gripping the dish a little tighter so it didn’t slip out of his hands. “Are you gonna fake showing me a swimming trick again?”

“C'mon that was a moment of sheer brilliance,” he laughed, stroking his thumb over the fuzzy silver hairs on the back of Ai’s neck, his hand sliding down to trace the curve of his spine. “Besides, they’re probably asleep and Gou never comes back out of her room.”

“You are such trouble,” Ai shook his head, looking back with a smile and bumping the swell of his ass into Rin’s hips with a little snort. “I’ll be done faster if you quit harassing me.”

“I’ll quit harassing you if you quit being cute,” he grumbled, sliding his hand around Ai’s hip to push it up his shirt, dragging his fingers over bare skin and leaving a tingling trail behind them. Ai shivered just a little before swatting Rin’s hand away with a pointed glare, stepping away from the warmth of Rin’s body and rolling his eyes.

“Just go wait,” he tried to sound annoyed but couldn’t help but chuckle at the pout on Rin’s face.

Still, Rin gave a final huff before turning and stalking off to the bedroom they shared, making Ai glad not for the first time that it was the only one on the first floor. It was at least slightly more private than being upstairs with the rest of the family. As predicted, it was much quicker to finish putting things away without Rin vying for his attention at every turn. He walked back to the room with a little sigh, blinking at Rin laying in his bed with his DS in hand, looking intently at the screen and glancing up as the door clicked shut.

“That Squid guy you like is moving in,” he announced, passing it over as Ai wiggled his way onto the bed and tilted his head curiously. He smiled as he looked down at Bullshark Lake over Rin’s shoulder. He’d done some cleaning while Ai was still busy, despite claiming to hate the game.

“Oh! Chowder, let me see,” he held his hands out and smiled when Rin passed him the game, settling himself instead with draping over Ai’s back and watching, chin resting lightly on his shoulder. It wasn’t until his breath blew warm over the shell of Ai’s ear that he blinked back to attention, clipping the game shut and grinning as Rin’s arms tightened around him. He rolled over so he was facing Rin instead, laughing as Rin leaned in to kiss him instantly, prying his mouth open aggressively.

Ai wiggled to get comfortable, pressing his tongue back against Rin’s and stroking his fingers through bright red hair with a soft purr. He shivered when Rin’s mouth pulled away to slide once again over his neck, this time with his mouth pressed open, tongue sliding hot against pale skin. He nibbled gently until Ai whined, giving his hair a weak tug to pull him back and slot their lips together once again. Rin shifted to kneel between his legs instead, grinning sharply and pushing Ai’s shirt up to his arms.

“See, isn’t this more fun?” he laughed, bending forward to kiss the center of Ai’s chest, wiggling just a little under Rin as his mouth wrapped around one pink nipple with a smirk. He whined out quietly, lifting one hand off the bed to press against his mouth. Rin purred softly, sending vibrations through Ai’s skin and grinning as his back arched off the sheets a little further.

“Y-you’re in a mood today,” Ai’s laughter was a little breathless, lifting his hand for a second to speak. His thighs pressed on either side of Rin’s knees as he leaned forward to continue peppering Ai’s chest with kisses, shrugging his shoulders.

“Gou decided she wants to go to Hana’s this weekend,” Rin smirked against Ai’s skin, tracing the hem of his shorts with both thumbs. “Which means we’ll be here by ourselves.”


	25. Love Potion no.9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt:Rintori witch au: Nitori try to make love potion for witch assignment, but Rin accidentally drank it (he thought it was a juice), after that Rin become attach too much on Nitori like Rin always with Nitori & hug him always & sometimes tries to kiss nitori (but fail lol) in the end Nitori's potion is not really a love potion but, it's actually a potion to make someone show their true desire, not to make they fall in love on someone (I'm thirsty on this au right now)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I write another installment of this you all have permission to hit me with mackerel.

Ai was feeling just a little bit frantic, his finals for his witch licence were coming up in less than three days and the potion he'd made as a part of the demonstration of his skills had vanished. His lessons were all private, and if he told Kisumi that it had simply gone missing he was sure he'd get an extension. Probably. But more pressing than irritating his mentor was the threat that his roommate might have made off with it on accident. 

Rin was, at least by all appearances, a civilian. He attended a local college and only seemed moderately annoyed by the weird ingredients that Ai left in his wake though he never asked many questions about them. Ai was glad, he didn't exactly start their meeting with explaining he was training to become a full-fledged witch. In fact it had never come up between them at all, nothing magical had. Possible through careful avoidance and more than a few lies about what Ai planned to do with his future. Really they were harmless, and so was that potion. Probably.

Rin wandered into the kitchen while Ai was still hunting through the fridge, leaning over his back to look in as well. The first press of Rin against him made his whole body freeze in surprise, the sort of curious hum that came from the back of his roommates throat didn't help at all.

"Were you looking for your pink juice thing?" He asked, blinking but not breaking contact as Ai nodded slowly. "I wound up drinking it this morning, sorry. I can pay you back."

His voice was too easy, lazy almost. Ai blinked furiously, staring at Rin and trying to grasp what he was saying. Rin... drank it. Not only had he possibly doomed Ai to another year of lessons from Kisumi (granted, it wasn't the worst fate in the world. Even if Kisumi was smarmy and frustrating and far too often very smug), but that potion was... untested, at the very best. Ai swallowed a little too hard, standing slowly and forcing Rin to slide away from him, teeth digging into his lower lip.

"D-don't worry about it!" His voice was too cheery, but Rin didn't seem to notice, hesitating before pulling Ai into a warm hug. Ai returned to blinking, staring into the distance over Rin's shoulder a little owlishly and trying to process what was happening. Before he had adjusted enough to actually return the hug Rin let go, smiling wide and sharp before turning back to his own room.

"Cool. G'night Ai," he waved his shoulder, leaving the small witch standing bewildered in the middle of the kitchen. Kisumi hadn't told him what the recipe was for, part of Ai's final test was to create it successfully and determine what the potion did. Well, provided that he got it all right, experimenting on his roommate wasn't strictly against the rules, right?

Ai felt queasy, pulling out the poorly scrawled list of directions that Kisumi had given him. It was a complicated potion, he'd had to go to the Goblin market three times to get everything, and be extra nice to Rin's selkie friend (another thing he was fairly sure Rin was ignorant of) for almost a week before the creature had agreed to get him the red seaweed he needed. Ai shuddered a little at the thought of having to ask again, he didn't want to go back to cooking mackerel every single day. The rest of the ingredients weren't much easier to come by; lucky spit, the hips of an enchanted rose, purified wishwater. Ai groaned, resolving instead to examine Rin extra close and just hope he'd gotten things right from the start.

In the morning, Ai woke up a little earlier than usual, starting a pot of coffee and hopping up on the counter to drink the majority of it. It was his morning ritual, just like Rin's was going out for his run. Ai smiled as he came back in from it, peeking over the rim of his cup with a small smile. Rin paused in pulling the earbuds out of his ears, something unfamiliar crossing his face before his cheeks went a little more red. Probably from exertion, Ai decided, because there was no way Rin was actually blushing.

“H-hey Ai, is there any left or did you just dump sugar in the pot this time?” Rin's voice was unsteady at the start but quickly evened out. Ai rolled his eyes just a little, nodding at the half-full pot and sticking his tongue out.

“There is plenty left that still carries the taste and consistency of mud, don't worry,” he chuckled, shifting to the side a little as Rin grabbed his own mug, nodding with an eye roll of his own.

“Just how I like it, thanks,” he glanced at Ai but flicked his eyes away quickly, coughing on the first sip and setting the cup down with a snap. “U-um, you're up kinda early, aren't you?”

Ai nodded, kicking his feet against the counter and shrugging. He wasn't really a fan of being up at this hour at all, but Rin was and he needed time to make sure the potion wasn't going to slowly kill him or do anything else similarly horrible. “I think I might get called into work early today.”

It wasn't exactly a lie; Nagisa had texted him about a possible Poltergeist with the promise of 'deets tomorrow;3'. Between helping around town with hauntings and other supernatural troubles and running Kisumi's potion shop Ai's finances were comfortable, at least enough for the tiny student apartment he shared with an almost unfairly attractive civilian. He hadn't really told Rin much of anything about his job, of course, just like he hadn't told Rin that his best friends were a very annoying selkie and one of the prefectures best vampire hunters respectively. 

“I see,” Rin grinned at him, glancing for a second at the cabinet over Ai's head before stepping so he was standing between his knees. Ai's cheeks went bright red, ducking his head a little and swallowing hard at how close they suddenly were. Rin's cheeks were definitely pink, it was impossible to miss this close, and even with his hand reached up into the cabinet he was staring intently at Ai's face. 

And then, of course, the overly chipper pop ringtone Nagisa had set for himself in Ai's phone ripped through the quiet air of the kitchen. Rin leaned back in surprise, face almost as red as his hair. Ai banged his head against the door of the cabinet, cursed, then fished his phone out with a huff.

He answered it, hopping down off the counter and leaving his coffee there. He rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head, sighing hard. “Hello?”

“Ai-chan! Good morning,” apparently the glum tone of his own voice wasn't enough to dampen Nagisa's mood and Ai shut the door to his room behind him to avoid Rin overhearing anything that Nagisa might shout at the phone.

~

Nagisa's Poltergeist was a nasty thing that managed to hit Ai with a toaster, 3 cracked mugs, and an empty paint bucket. It was, of course, his luck that when he finally tripped home well past midnight, bruised and drained and irritated that Rin was intently watching swimming races on the couch, Sousuke half asleep next to him. 

Rin jolted a little when Ai pulled the front door shut behind him, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “Um, your head is bleeding.”

Ai pressed a hand to his forehead, pulling it away sticky and red with a groan. It wasn't a surprise, at least two of those mugs had hit him in the head and of course Nagisa forgot the first aid kit. He wasn't nearly as useful with Rei off studying some rare dragon migration. Rin stood as Ai simply stared at the blood on his hand, ushering Ai gently into the kitchen and shaking his head. “C'mon, you need a bandage.”

“Ah- sorry. I'm just... tired,” Ai shook his head, letting Rin push his hair away from the cut and wipe it clean gently. He hoped there weren't any shards of ceramic still stuck into his face but let Rin stick no less than three bandages to his head to cover the cut. He was somewhere between awake and asleep when he noticed that Rin had gone from pressing the adhesive against his skin to just gently stroking the cut and staring at him.

“Y-you look like you got into a fight,” Rin grumbled, his hand sliding from Ai's forehead to tilt his chin up. His brow was furrowed, Ai noticed, blinking slowly. Was that concern in his voice?

“It was just from work,” he waved a hand a little dismissively, cheeks going pink as Rin's hand continued to linger on his chin. He was leaning in a little closer now, Ai was sure, probably trying to examine that bruise on his shoulder from getting hit with the stupid toaster. Except he was absolutely staring directly at Ai's mouth, not his shoulder.

“Yo, Rin,” Sousuke had pulled himself back to his feet, staring at them with a raised eyebrow and a long yawn. Rin jolted backward like he'd been burned, turning to face his friend with wide eyes, dropping his hand immediately. “I'm goin' home. I'm outta town for the rest of the week, stay outta trouble.”

He gave Rin a shove and raised an eyebrow at Ai before nodding and making his way out. He almost groaned again, recalling that Kisumi had hired Sousuke to go kill him a dragon and he'd agreed to stop by and feed and walk his often ornery dog while he was gone. Ai hung his head after the door shut, scrubbing his palms into his eyes and ignoring the buzz of his phone that he knew was probably a text from Sousuke to remind him of that fact.

Rin cleared his throat unevenly, swallowing before giving Ai's arm a little tug and nodding at the couch. “Hey, come watch this with me.”

Ai let himself be dragged over, plopping down onto the creaky couch with a little sigh of relief. He was surprised when Rin settled so both his arms were wrapped around Ai, snuggling him against his chest before stretching out his legs. Too tired to argue with the warmth wrapped around him Ai nuzzled in and almost dozed off.

Almost, until he realized that Rin most certainly did not just cuddle him out of nowhere and that he'd undoubtedly drugged him with some kind of love potion. Ai jolted upright, startling Rin who turned to look at him with a little smile tugging up the corners of his lips.

“Everything okay?” He asked softly, cocking his head a little. Ai nodded hurriedly, pushing himself off the couch and doing everything in his power not to fall down. He felt dead on his feet but charged off to his room anyway.

“I-I have to make a call, sorry,” he nearly tripped digging his phone out while in motion, selecting Kisumi's number as the door banged shut behind him. It took several rings before there was an answer. Kisumi's usual sugar sweet tone lost to the annoyance of being woken up.

“Ai-chan if this isn't an emergency I'm turning you into a toad,” he yawned hard and there was a rustle of fabric on the other end.

“U-um, Rin... My roommate, he d-drank the potion I made for you,” Ai swallowed, shaking his head at Kisumi's sharp intake of air. “I-it was an accident! I put it in the fridge to cool before bottling it and he thought it was juice and drank it!”

“Mmm, well he should be alright as long as you didn't mess the whole thing up,” Kisumi grumbled and Ai could almost hear the smirk on his face. “Does he seem okay?”

“W-was it supposed to be a love potion or something?” Ai asked, his voice dropping to an almost-whisper from sheer mortification. There was a pause before Kisumi chuckled.

“How much wishwater did you use?” He was still chuckling as he asked and Ai struggled to remember.

“N-no more than a cup, I couldn't get much,” he huffed a sigh, pressing his hands into his eyes until he saw white. He'd drugged Rin with a love potion, he was never ever going to get his license after something like that. Love potions weren't even legal, especially using one on someone without their consent.

“Then it's definitely not a love potion,” Kisumi's vocal smirk only got wider. “What's he doing?”

“J-just, he seems very touchy... A-and I think he tried to kiss me,” Ai grumbled, his stomach doing a little flip at the words. Kisumi actually laughed at that, loud but suddenly cut off.

“Sorry, Buttercup!” He called. He'd laughed so loud that his cat had left him, from the sound of it. “Don't worry Ai-chan, from the sound of it you just gave someone with a crush on you a really nice dose of Heart's Desire.”

“H-heart's-” Ai couldn't finish the thought, blinking his eyes rapidly. “C-crush?”

His voice rose almost to shouting at that, clapping a hand over his mouth quickly. He was not feeling near as tired now.

“Right. So either you can go out there and kiss him and fulfill the effect or come in tomorrow and I'll give you some cleanser for the poor thing,” Kisumi sounded like a cat that caught the fucking canary and Ai just huffed a little. He hung up without answering that question, swallowing and turning back towards the door. 

Perhaps it's from being beat about the head with mugs, or perhaps just too tired to thinks straight but Ai pulled the door open, taking a deep breath to steel himself before storming back into the living room, leaning over and kissing Rin before his eyes are fully peeled away from the tv.

He caught the surprised noise Rin made before melting into it, both hands sliding into his hair with a grip that felt like it was desperate not to let Ai pull away from the kiss for anything.


	26. Sun Vs Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Rin wasn't prepared for the moment he looked into Ai's face and saw himself, but once he did it was almost impossible to look away. The little-furrowed frown on his face when he looked over his times, the way his shoulders sometimes sagged for a moment like something was weighing heavy on his back. The single, quiet admission that he felt useless.

It was even more surprising to realize that in the end, Ai wasn't like him at all. He had let the weight of his own failures crush him, bowing his back further and further until he couldn't do anything but collapse under it and refuse to rise again. Ai instead stood straighter, fixed his eyes on a goal and let it drive him over and over again. In the end, it only made Rin worry more.

“Oi, Ai, stay here for a minute,” he tried to smile as he flagged Ai away from Momo right at the end of practice. Ai tilted his head but smiled up at him with a nod. He didn't look surprised, he rarely made it back to the locker room before anyone but Rin, insisting to stay and help with whatever possible.

He was starting to see it again, that flicker of darkness that crossed Ai's face again sometimes, the subtle slump of defeat just starting to crawl up his back. The last thing he wanted to do was let Ai fall back into feeling like he wasn't of use to the team because it was his job as captain to prop him up. Ai waved Momo off and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket, cocking his head up at Rin.

“Is everything okay, senpai?” He asked, voice echoing in the suddenly empty space of the pool. Rin nodded, sitting on the edge and dunking his feet in the water, smiling a little as Ai did the same. He sat a respectful distance away and Rin was tempted to tug them close together for a moment.

“Yeah, I just wanted to check on you,” he stared down at the water, fidgeting his fingers together. “You've been sneaking back in to practice, right?”

“Ah- w-well yeah,” Ai rubbed the back of his head, cheeks turning pink. “Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be here after curfew but...”

He sighed, letting his shoulders hunch inwards and biting down on his lower lip. He spent a long minute searching for words and Rin waited it out without saying anything. “I really need the extra work, y'know.”

Rin nodded, pausing before reaching out and curling his fingers around Ai's slowly. They weren't dating; never applied a label to the occasional touches like these, the kisses that Ai always seemed more than happy to give away and ask for nothing in return.

“You're doing really well,” he tilted his head to look over Ai with a small smile on his face, squeezing the small hand in his grasp. “But don't be scared to ask for help either.

“I-I can't trouble you with that Rin-senpai,” Ai shook his head a little sadly but didn't pull his hand away. It was cool against Rin's skin and he rubbed the back with his thumb to try and share a little warmth, Ai's cheeks went pink again. “You have a lot more important things to worry about than me.”

“Hey,” he intoned seriously, shifting so they were sitting with their legs pressed together, dropping his head to rest on Ai's shoulder. “I think you're important to worry about.”

“Th-thank you,” Ai still sounded unsure, leaning his cheek against the top of Rin's head. “But... You're going places Senpai, you should think about the future.”

“I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere,” he grumbled, planting a kiss on Ai's cheek with a little smile. It was a little scary to admit, but lately he didn't like the idea of charging off into a future that didn't include Ai anymore, where he lost these quiet moments. Ai's cheeks flushed a little darker and he nodded, smiling for the first time since practice had started.


	27. Play Crack The Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nitori gets hit on the head by a stray baseball from the Samezuka baseball team and Rin or Sousuke or both of them have a word with the team captain about the black eye it left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Ai meet cutes the wrong person and Rin gets grumpy about it.

Ai liked running in the afternoons generally though he did like the morning runs he used to take with Rin as well. Today, however, a run was calling his name; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the breeze felt marvelous on his face. The baseball, however, did not. Before it actually hurt it was a sickening moment of disorientation where he went from jogging at an easy pace, enjoying his music and the lovely weather, to a crumpled heap on the ground with a throbbing right eye and a baseball sitting several feet away.

He blinked, or tried to, finding that the swelling made it hard to do much of anything, while several boys in Samezuka baseball uniforms shouted and crowded around him. He wasn't sure if he was actually crying or if his eyes (eye?) were watering from the pain, and he couldn't even find it in himself to smile as one of them dropped to a knee next to him. A gloved hand was touching his chin, turning his face and lifting it a little to try and examine the damage. It was then that he saw the dimpled smile turned down at him from under the rim of a stiff black baseball cap.

"Well ouch," Ai grumbled, lifting one scuffed hand to press gingerly at his face with a hiss through his teeth. The boy still touching his face laughed a little, nodding and helping him stand up. Someone else from the team had gathered the projectile and they were starting to file away, shoving at the mortified boy who had probably hit it.

"That does look a little painful. I'll take you to get some ice," he paused, glancing at Ai's jacket and smiling a little more, dropping from touching Ai's face to his shoulder. Ai was glad he was standing on the left side, letting him admire tanned skin and broad shoulders stretching the baseball jersey tight. "You're one of the swimmers? I'm Jirou Hiroshi and I'm very sorry my team injured you."

"It's not so bad," Ai chuckled softly, cursing himself for blushing so easily. Jirou was definitely cute, with a disarming smile and eyes that made Ai think of violets. "I don't think I need both eyes to swim anyway. I'm Aiichirou Nitori."

"Oh! You're one of the relay members," he beamed at that as if proud of himself for remembering and Ai was only melting a little at the warmth. He nodded, swallowing and trying to force his heart to slow down. Jirou walked with him to one of the ice machines, wrapping several cubes in a stolen towel and passing it over, making Ai giggle the whole time he pressed it to his face. When he left Ai had a black eye, a very cold towel, and a new number saved in his phone.

 

Momo was the first to see the damage, of course, and as soon as Ai explained that a stray baseball had hit him on his run (no, no one had punched him in the face Momo-kun. Really. Please stop rolling your sleeves up like that.), he laughed uproariously. Ai sat on the bottom bunk with a little huff, pressing his face gently and wrinkling his nose as he looked up at Momo.

"Is it really bad?" He grumbled, not sure if he was more concerned for his vanity or his chances of getting to swim at practice. They were about equal, he decided.

"I dunno, can you actually see out of it?" Momo leaned forward like the was desperate to touch the purpling bruise and Ai used his good eye to glare. 

"Kind of. Does it really look like someone punched me?" He flopped back with a sigh as Momo nodded, pulling his pillow over his face until realizing that just made it hurt more. Instead, he chucked the pillow across the room. "I was hoping I didn't look so terrible..."

"Worried about Rin-senpai?" Momo leered, blinking his eyes when Ai shot up and shook his head hard, throwing his hands up in desperation.

"No! The baseball captain! He was so nice and here I look like some kind of delinquent," Ai huffed as Momo laughed again, winding up on the floor.

"Well he knows you didn't get punched," Momo reasoned after he regained himself, patting Ai's knee with a smile. "And you could never look like a delinquent Nitori-senpai, you're too cute looking."

"It's hard to feel cute when you only have one eye," he grumbled, slouching forward and sighing hard. "He did give me his number though... Maybe it wasn't so bad then."

"Oh! Are you gonna ask him out Senpai?" Momo's eyes were positively glittering at the thought and Ai shook his head maybe a little too quickly.

"N-no! Well- if he asked me that... I might say yes," Ai hesitated, squeaking as Momo flung them together in a hug. "O-okay Momo-kun... We have to go down to practice, please let go of me."

Momo complied, letting Ai shepherd him to practice with less hyperactivity than normal. Ai chalked it up to pity for his injury, sighing as he had to explain what happened no less than four times in the locker room. Rin wasn't in there and he was a little glad, he didn't particularly want to be sent home from practice and if he changed and didn't say anything about it maybe Rin would let him. Or maybe he wouldn't notice it at all and his image of Ai without bruises marring his face would be preserved.

The latter was little more than a fantasy because as soon as he walked out with cap and goggles in hand Rin turned to say something to him. He was grinning at first, but as soon as he actually saw Ai his smile dropped so fast it seemed like it had been ripped out of orbit. He looked like he was caught between being outraged and worried, appearing in front of Ai in two long strides, brows furrowed together as he caught Ai's chin and tilted his head up. His grip was surprisingly gentle and Ai's cheeks burned as he leaned closer, leaving them inches apart.

"What the fuck happened? Did someone hit you?" He was growling and Ai couldn't help but blush even worse as he shook his head. Was Rin that worried that someone would? Rin raised an eyebrow but didn't drop his hand.

"N-no, I got hit by a baseball," he paused, waiting for Rin to start laughing like Momo had. He didn't, if anything he frowned further. "I-it was an accident. I was out running and someone hit it too hard..."

Rin's thumb was stroking at the bottom of his chin just a little and the touch was extremely distracting. Ai swallowed, trying to put it out of his head. "T-the captain got me some ice for it."

"And his number!" Momo added and Ai wondered if drowning himself in the pool would be more painful than this situation. That seemed to snap Rin out of staring into Ai's face, his hand dropping, but his expression only darkening further. He nodded once sharply and started to turn away before seeming to think better of it.

"Don't swim today, just help me keep track of times," his voice was still burning with anger and Ai cringed a little. He nodded in agreement, padding back to the locker room to grab his stopwatch instead and trying to ignore Sousuke jolting in surprise at his face. Once all the concerned parties had been assured that he was not being bullied or hit, and no he did not walk into a door Ai only had to endure the occasional shouts of 'duck!' and Rin's ceaseless glaring.

 

"So I'm curious," Sousuke was smirking at him on their walk to class and Rin didn't appreciate his tone already. He was still in a mood about Ai's black eye and Sousuke was not letting up. "Are you mad that he got hit or hit on?"

Rin snorted hard at that, turning away from Sousuke's grin and shrugging his shoulders. Saying he wasn't mad wouldn't really be believable, even if it wasn't any of his business to be mad about the second thing. Luck would have it, of course, that Jirou was in their class and there was no way to avoid seeing him short of skipping for the rest of the year. Rin sighed, glancing up at Sousuke who was still expecting an answer even if he already knew. "It's so tacky. Who gives someone their number after watching them get smacked in the face?"

"I dunno, you gotta take the chances you get," Sousuke grinned wider, Rin's shove doing nothing to move him out of his path. He did kick his leg in return before taking his seat, not missing the way Rin was glaring directly at the side of Jirou's head. It was, all in all, extremely funny to watch Rin get so riled that someone else would eventually take an interest in Ai. Someone who by the look of it hadn't caught wind of the rumor that Rin was already dating him or hadn't noticed that he wished that the rumor was true. He was probably the only person at the school who didn't know those two things other than Ai himself. 

It only got better when Jirou rubbed the back of his neck, turning to Rin's desk before they left for lunch. He smiled, but there was a nervous edge to it. "Hey, Matsuoka-kun. I had a question about someone on your team."

Rin's face plummeted, but Jirou didn't seem put off by the glare. He leaned a little closer, close enough for Rin to notice that he was actually blushing and consider how that made him want to hit him even more.

"It's uh, Nitori-kun," he smiled when he said Ai's name, Rin's head hurt. "I just wanted to know if he had like.. a girlfriend or anything."

"Why?" Rin snapped, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms. "You gonna use him for target practice again?"

Jirou didn't seem put off by the jibe, instead he laughed softly. "He told you, huh? I feel bad he got hit, I was gonna try and take him for ice cream this weekend or something."

"So a date," Rin's voice was flat though inwardly he felt like a freshly kicked beehive. His lip curled in annoyance at the hopeful smile on Jirou's face, his mouth moving before he'd actually thought the words through. "Sorry, I'm taking him out this weekend."

"Oh," Jirou's brow furrowed, looking actually crestfallen as he stood. "He didn't mention it. Thanks anyway."

He made his way out, still gripping his phone in one hand and Rin went pale as he heard Sousuke chuckling. "Guess now you actually do have to ask him out."


	28. If I Were You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kink meme fill. Prompt: https://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/3042.html?thread=4048866#cmt4048866

Rin wasn't sure if Kisumi was lucky or just terribly devious. He'd actually been glad to see him again, until they met by chance while Rin was taking Ai shopping for trinkets to send home to his younger brothers and Kisumi had turned his fox-like eyes and sly smile on unsuspecting Ai. Previously, he'd rolled his eyes at Haru's constant distaste for Kisumi; the way he tensed and glanced at Makoto whenever he was mentioned. Kisumi was likable, easy-going, and Rin was quite suddenly noticing how affectionate he could be.

"So, Nitori-kun how old are your brothers?" He was veritably purring at Ai, leaning a little closer than maybe he should, smiling wide and sweet. Ai's cheeks were just as pink as Kisumi's hair and Rin was struggling with the way that made anger swell up suddenly in his stomach.

"Ah- they're 8 and 10," Ai smiled brightly, his throat bobbing in a hard swallow as Kisumi leaned around him and picked up a plush cat, his arm nearly wrapped around Ai as he squeezed it.

"My brother is around there. He loves things like this," Kisumi laughed like a tinkling bell and Ai's smile was far more relaxed at the sound of it. He didn't seem to notice at all when Kisumi's arm actually was resting on his shoulders instead of hovering there. Rin clenched his fists, shaking his head and tapping Ai on the side, trying his best not to glower.

"Didn't you wanna go look at swimsuits or something too, Ai?" He grumbled, ignoring the way Kisumi's gaze flicked over him in an evaluating way before turning back to Ai with an even wider smile.

"You're one of Rin's swimmers? I bet you wear speedos," he grinned as Ai shook his head, knocking their heads gently together. "What a shame, Nitori-kun! We should have you try some on, I bet you'd look super cute."

"W-well I guess trying them on couldn't hurt," Ai relented easily under Kisumi's sly pressure, letting himself be whisked off to the athletics store with a wobbly smile in Rin's direction. At first he thought it was because Ai didn't appreciate his failed attempt at getting rid of Kisumi, then he realized when they passed an especially clear shop window it was because he had a look on his face that could probably kill a man. He tried to ease it but failed the first time he heard 'Ai-chan' fall out of Kisumi's mouth.

Ai actually let Kisumi talk him into trying on three different speedos, blushing further as their cuts got more and more daring. The last one was no better than the string bikini Nagisa had tried to pass off on Rei as every given chance. Rin assumed he'd been successful with that at some point because it had eventually stopped showing up in Rei's gym bag. The curtain swept shut behind Ai and Kisumi turned to him with a wide smile.

"Your swimmer is cute," he cooed, cocking his head at the way Rin frowned further at that. Ai wasn't anything of his though he didn't really want to admit that fact to Kisumi at the moment. He'd taken Ai on several of these pseudo-dates recently; out to the movies or off campus to get ice cream, always paying for whatever Ai wanted. It didn't seem to be getting the hint across that he was trying to romance Ai. He was simply thrilled it seemed by the idea of being closer friends with Rin at all.

"Yeah, I guess," he grumbled after far too long, his face lighting on fire as Ai's face peeked out from behind the curtain before he stepped out. The speedo was flat black, the most modest of the ones Kisumi had grabbed, with angular blue lines printed on it and transparent triangles cut out of the hips. What was worse was the full stretch of Ai's slender legs that Rin only let himself admire with a glance. He'd talked Ai out of ever trying the full coverage jammers that he wore, just to selfishly keep him from covering his legs up more than required.

Kisumi grinned, giving Ai two thumbs up at the suit and nodding his head with an appreciative hum. "I knew you'd be cute like that Ai-chan! A speedo is perfect for your body."

Rin couldn't help but snort at that because there was no way Kisumi knew enough about swimming to mean that in an athletic sense. Ai had been smiling but frowned at Rin's snort, shifting back towards the changing room. "Th-thank you Shigino-san. That's nice of you to say."

"Call me Kisumi," his insistence was as gentle as ever but Ai's cheeks still flooded with color. He was always trying to be polite with Rin's friends, obviously worried that they might dislike him and sway Rin's opinion. The thought almost made Rin snort again though he restrained it; as if anyone could actually dislike Ai.

"S'not bad," Rin agreed slowly, making himself look at Ai's face rather than leer at him like he was inclined to do. Ai brightened at that in a way that made Rin feel like his chest was full of air. He knew he was in far too deep with Ai already, especially with Kisumi hanging around and flirting acting like a knife twisted in the center of his chest. "Did you wanna try on the others?"

He managed not to glare at Kisumi with the question, raising an eyebrow at the shrug of Ai's shoulders before he ducked shyly behind the curtain once again. Kisumi positively giggled, throwing his arm over Rin's shoulders with a wistful sigh.

"Rin. How could you and Sousuke hide such an adorable kohai away from me?" He sounded truly offended and Rin rolled his eyes, shooting him a little glare.

"Maybe I didn't wanna listen to hitting on him," he snorted. It was supposed to be a joke, but it came out as an honest hiss. Kisumi arched an eyebrow neatly, giving Rin an evaluating flick of his eyes before the fox-like smile stretched over his face again.

"No, I guess you don't," he hummed, positively beaming as Ai peeked out once again in a speedo that made Rin's face flame red. He was hoping the ground would swallow him up right then and there because he couldn't make himself quit staring no matter how hard he tried. Ai shifted under the gaze, swallowing hard.

"S-senpai? Is- is it alright?" He sounded nervous, on the verge of backing up through the curtain once more when Rin nodded curtly and snapped his mouth shut.

"Y-yeah," Rin mumbled out. It was the least clothing he'd actually been allowed to look at Ai wearing. He could see the pale curve of his ass, the fabric clinging too tightly to his skin for Rin not to notice. Kisumi actually whistled, low and wolfish.

"You should buy that, Ai-chan!" He declared brightly, taking a step forward before looking back in surprise at Rin gripping his arm with a fierce glare. He wasn't sure if Kisumi was trying to actually get somewhere with Ai, or just torment him personally, but either way he wasn't just gonna let Kisumi put his hands all over Ai. No way.

Ai nodded, the pink flush of his cheeks starting to creep down the exposed plane of his chest in a way that was not helping Rin with the task of keeping Kisumi on his mind. Instead, it wandered to what other things could be done to get Ai blushing like that once again, his skin turning flushed and pink while Rin-

Now was definitely not the time for that train of thought and Rin hauled Kisumi back to his side with a little grunt. "W-we can get that if you want."

Ai smiled a little at that, nodding and turning quickly to change back into his clothes (Rin hoped. The quick view of his back was almost enough to make Rin lose his composure once again.) Kisumi tinkled out another sweet laugh.

"Rin is so easily flustered. I'd think you were used to seeing swimsuits," he purred, ducking away from the shove Rin aimed at him with a bright laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe someday I'll tire of writing Rin being helplessly in love with Ai. I doubt it, but maybe.


	29. Play Crack The Sky pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't resist writing a little more.

Rin really did try to find a time to ask Ai on a date, but there never seemed to be a moment for it. In fact, for the rest of the week he probably hadn't spent more than five minutes total actually alone with him. He finally managed catch Ai just after practice ended, still toweling his hair out and smiling when he saw Rin, draping the terrycloth over the back of his neck.

"Walk back with me," he meant it to sound like an offer or a question but it came out in what Sousuke referred to as his captain voice and Ai paled a little before nodding and turning to tuck his towel away. Rin grimaced as he saw the scattered inside of Ai's back, rolling his eyes as the towel was just stuffed in with the rest of the chaos before Ai pulled his shirt on over his head.

"Okay," he agreed, sounding a little nervous as he wiggled the zipper on his bag closed, gripping the front strap after looping it around his chest. Rin nodded, smiling as they left the locker room side by side, not quite close enough for their shoulders to brush. Rin was almost glad, it was already hard enough to quell the nervous thrumming of his heart. He cleared his throat and Ai almost jumped at the sudden sound, looking up at him with round eyes.

"Ah- actually Ai I was wondering," he hesitated, stopping himself from sucking in an embarrassing breath, the back of his neck igniting red. "Are- are you busy on Saturday... Tomorrow?"

"Oh," Ai blinked furiously and Rin was wondering what he'd expected. Probably something terrible from the way his shoulders sagged a little in relief. "Um, a little? I thought we didn't have practice..."

"W-we don't," he flushed further, scratching the back of his head. This was the most awkward date invitation ever, Rin was already cursing himself internally. "I was thinking you and I could go do something..."

Ai hummed at that for a moment, apparently still missing what Rin was trying to ask. He tilted his head, looking up with a smile. "I have the morning free... I got invited to go out to the movies tomorrow night."

Rin's mouth hung open for a second before he snapped it shut, trying to swallow down whatever the feeling in his stomach was. It felt like someone had taken a wooden spoon and stirred his insides into a frenzy and he pushed his hands into his pockets with a nod. "W-well have fun."

"Ah, I'm a little nervous," Ai hesitated outside his door, squeezing the strap of his bag tighter. "I've never actually been on a date before."

Rin frowned at that without meaning to, nodding a little too curtly before turning on his heel and banging the door to his own room shut behind him. He probably should have been a good senpai and given Ai some kind of advice to ease his nerves, or possibly said goodbye before slamming a door in his face. He cringed, turning to stare at it before sighing as he heard Ai's door close much more quietly. He'd never been so glad to come back to an empty room before in his life, flopping himself face down on his bed to wallow in his own stupidity.

Sousuke took one look at him once he came in before he started to laugh, leaving Rin to mope without any sympathy whatsoever. Some best friend.

 

He managed to position himself outside in the hall when Jirou came to pick up Ai, laundry basket in his arms as he stopped to glare daggers at the baseball captain. He glanced over his shoulder and gave Rin a relaxed smile, quirking an eyebrow at the way Rin's face only soured further.

"I see you're having a productive evening, Matsuoka-kun," his tone was completely congenial, nodding at Rin's laundry and smiling. He was minus the Samezuka baseball cap he always seemed to be wearing, his cheeks dimpled with his relaxed smile. Rin wanted to punch it off his face, instead he continued glaring.

"So you asked Ai out," his voice was flat and Jirou shrugged just a little.

"I only asked if he had some time to spare this weekend," he raised an eyebrow as Rin's lips drew into a tight line, shaking his head. "He made it sound like there weren't any toes to step on, and I do owe him something nice as an apology."

"There aren't," Rin grumbled after a moment, withering further. Jirou wasn't actually a rival for Ai's affections because Rin wasn't really in the running. He reached over to pat Rin's shoulder gently, still smiling in that infuriatingly kind way.

"Well good! I'll return him in good condition. No more baseballs," he chuckled at his own joke before knocking on Ai's door. It swung open seconds later, Ai standing there pink-cheeked and smiling with Momo attempting to climb over his back still. He stared up at Jirou while Ai seemed to take notice of Rin standing there with a look on his face that could probably curdle milk before he banged back into his room, missing the way it made Ai cringe a little before looking up at his date.

"H-hi Hiroshi-kun," he mumbled out shyly, glad that Momo seemed to lose interest in the baseball player, giving Ai a gentle push out the door before bouncing back to taking care of Pyunsuke. Jirou chuckled, reaching out a hand to steady Ai as he stumbled forward.

"Your roommate seems... lively," he laughed, nodding toward the stairs and walking next to Ai. Ai shook his head with a softly exasperated sigh, shaking his head.

"Momo-kun is an unstoppable force," his tone was entirely serious and it made Jirou chuckle again, hesitating before he took gentle hold of Ai's hand, watching his cheeks flush vermillion as their fingers laced together.

 

If it were at all possible, Sousuke had even less pity for him than the night before when he'd found Rin moping. He watched his best friend pace around the room, cleaning relentlessly like if he cleared out all the dust and there were no dirty clothes left anywhere in the room Ai would suddenly stop being on a date with someone else. It was just edging past nine when there were footsteps in the hall once again, Rin's head shooting up and his eyes narrowing at the door.

"Is that why you wouldn't let me play any music?" Sousuke grumbled, rolling his eyes as Rin edged over to the door. This crush was starting to get a little absurd, especially because if Rin ever bothered to actually tell Ai about it, he wouldn't be in this situation to begin with. He watched Rin's brow furrow, his ear basically pressed to the door. It was too much. Sousuke stood from his desk with a long-suffering sigh, grabbing the collar of Rin's shirt and pulling the door open, shoving him out into the hall with a glare. "Deal with it, I'm locking you out until you have a solution."

He slammed the door shut again with that, ignoring the long string of curses that fell out of Rin's mouth and the surprised squeak of 's-senpai?' that followed. Instead, he returned to working at his desk, shaking his head back and forth. 

Ai's cheeks were bright red as he stared up at Rin faring no better, Jirou already gone for the night. Rin swallowed unevenly, rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but Ai's face, settling on a stain in the carpet. "H-how was your date?"

"Um, it was nice. We went to see that new action film," Ai sounded a little wary and Rin couldn't exactly blame him. He'd done a spectacular backslide into treating Ai like shit since the baseball incident. Sucking a deep breath, he stepped forward and lifted his head up, fixing Ai with what he hoped wasn't another glare.

"I don't like you going out on dates," he announced, almost cringing at how wrong that came out. Ai frowned a little, his eyes round and wide as he looked up at Rin. He tried to soften, rubbing the back of his neck. "P-people might take advantage of you or something."

Sleeping in the hallway for the night couldn't be that bad, right? Sousuke would definitely let him in in the morning, he was fairly sure. There was still the faintest mottling around Ai's right eye, the last fading remnants of the bruise that had been there. Ai's face was a little brighter as Rin's apparent concern.

"Don't worry Senpai, Hiroshi-kun was perfectly polite to me," his cheeks flushed and he glanced away from Rin. "E-even when I decided I wasn't ready to have my first kiss yet."

Rin was almost tempted to press a hand to his ear to make sure his brain hadn't started leaking out. Had no one ever kissed Ai? He swallowed roughly, trying to push the image of closing the space between them and kissing Ai himself out of his head entirely. Ai looked up at him, eyes still shy.

"I-it was because I have someone else I like a lot, even if Hiroshi-kun is really nice," his voice was so soft Rin could've missed his words entirely around the blood rushing through his ears. There was someone Ai had a crush on? There was another jealous flare in his stomach but this time Rin tried to tamp it down.

"Go on a date with me instead," it didn't even come out as a question and Ai jolted in surprise, his head snapping up to stare at Rin in pure shock, his mouth dropped open a little. He could make Ai forget about some other crush, he was sure. And if he couldn't... Well at least he'd tried and Sousuke would actually let him back in his damn room.

"R-Rin-senpai? D-do you really want to go on a date with me?" Ai sounded incredulous and Rin quirked an eyebrow before nodding. Why would he ask if he didn't? He chalked it up to Ai just being shy, his cheeks were already glowing red.

"I tried to ask you yesterday, but you were already busy," Rin shrugged with forced nonchalance. Ai's gaze was moonstruck, and he gave a slow nod before stumbling forward and leaning on his toes to press his lips against Rin's. It was chaste and clumsy and by far the most graceless kiss that Rin ever had, and in the end that was perfect. It was better than anything he could've possibly imagined doing with Ai because it was real. His arms came out to catch Ai on auto-pilot, winding up wrapped tightly around him as he hunted out another kiss.


	30. Lullaby For A Stormy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Drabbles; Lullaby for a Stormy Night- Vienna Teng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlmhMS_luX8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploading the tumblr drabbles I did and then forgot about

Rin wasn’t sure what exactly woke him up; the yelp and ensuing squeak from the bunk above him or the booming crash of thunder that had preceded both. Regardless, he blinked his eyes open with a groan, rubbing at them and sitting up halfway. He had heard a yelp, right? It was hard to be sure, the room had gone silent immediately after.

“S-senpai? Did I wake you up?” Ai’s voice was a little above a harsh whisper, but Rin shrugged his shoulders, looking up at the bed above him with a raised eyebrow. The sound had come from him, apparently.

“Nah, it was probably the storm,” he blinked as another flash of lightning lit the room for a second, rain slashing against the window in waves. The next crack of thunder almost covered up the way Ai whimpered pitifully, the bed creaking under him. “Hey- you okay?”

Rin slid off the bed and stood, tilting his head at the quivering lump of blankets that was most likely his roommate. Ai poked his head out, eyes rimmed red and puffy with tears, his shoulders shaking constantly. He blushed still at Rin’s intent gaze, shaking his head slowly and swallowing hard before speaking again.

“I-I don’t really like storms,” he mumbled, clinging his pillow closer to his chest as wind howelled past the window, shuddering a little. “I’m sorry, I’ll make sure to be quieter.”

“You didn’t wake me up,” Rin rolled his eyes, hesitating for a second before scaling the ladder and flopping on the bed next to Ai with a little smile, tugging at the edge of the blanket. “C'mon, share.”

“S-senpai?” Ai blinked, releasing the edge and letting Rin wrap himself up in it as well. Rin shrugged, reaching until he actually found Ai’s slim body, pulling him so they were cuddled together. Ai’s breathing stopped for a moment, freezing like he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react.

“You’re scared, right?” Rin shrugged, stroking his fingers through Ai’s hair with a smile, shifting so he could look down at him. “Gou used to be scared of ‘em too, so I’d always let her stay with me.”

“Th-thank you,” Ai mumbled softly, closing his eyes and burrowing close to Rin’s warmth. It did feel far safer with him there, one hand petting his hair and the other brushing the last tears off his cheeks. Rin nodded, ducking his head and kissing Ai’s temple softly.

“No problem,” he smiled as he felt Ai’s trembling stop, tightening his hold a little at the next crack of thunder. “It’ll probably pass soon, don’t worry.”


	31. Now Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Drabbles: Now Three- Vienna Teng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq3WKps7X-o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I listen to happy music sometimes?

Ai was not a habitually peaceful sleeper. Rin had mostly become accustomed to it during a year of living together; the restless shifting from the bunk above, accompanied by mumbling in tones that sometimes rose to frantic. He never talked about his dreams, even though he knew Rin himself was no stranger to nightmares. Now with Ai asleep in his arms, frowning intently at the dark air around him Rin couldn’t help the desire that caused him to pull them closer together. His face was drawn tight, looking more pale than usual and feeling a shade too small in Rin’s grasp. He could see the barest glimmer of a scar on the top of his shoulder, round and sharp against the soft swell skin.

Rin ducked his head to kiss the mark, ghosting a sigh as his fingers tightened against Ai’s back a little. He knew there were other scars dotting his skin like freckles, frequently stroked and kissed like the one under Rin’s lips now. Everything around him felt like it was holding its breath in sleep, his finger tracing restlessly on the bare skin of Ai’s back as he mumbled something unintelligible. Rin nuzzled his shoulder tenderly, letting his eyes slide closed as he mumbled soft shushing sounds. They failed to soothe, Ai’s voice rising into a slurred protest.

It was normal; Rin was rarely able to calm him down without actually waking him up, but he continued tracing delicate shapes against Ai’s back. He didn’t shift away as Ai’s fingers curled into helpless fists, pounding his chest without any force behind the blows. His struggles became more animated until Rin lifted his hands to give him a gentle shake, opening his eyes again with a little sigh.

“Ai, it’s just a dream. Wake up,” his voice was little more than a loud whisper but the tremor through Ai’s body was enough to wake him. His eyes blinked open blearily, looking at Rin’s furrowed face without seeming to realize right away who he was. He shook his head a little, looking at his hands then up at Rin once more.

“R-Rin?” His voice still cloudy with sleep though his mouth curved into a little smile. He shifted from holding a fist between them to curling his fingers into Rin’s shirt, cheeks tinged just a little pink. “Was I having a bad dream again? Did I wake you?”

“It’s okay,” Rin hummed, stroking his hand up and down Ai’s back once again. He wanted to draw Ai’s fear inside of himself completely, to shoulder the weight of it and see the lines and worries of Ai’s face soothed completely by sleep. Ai nuzzled into his neck with a little sigh, mumbling out something that was probably meant to be ‘sorry’. Rin ignored it, stroking his hair instead. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I-I don’t remember,” he responded just a little too quickly and Rin fought the urge to sigh in defeat. Ai, for all his chatter and smiles, was skilled at saying very little when he wanted to. Rin just pulled him closer, kissing his temple and nodding.

“Okay. Go on back to sleep love. I’ll be right here,” he smiled as Ai nodded slowly, drifting off quickly in his arms. He still looked troubled, and it took far longer for sleep to find Rin.


	32. Cemetery Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Drabbles: My Chemical Romance- Cemetery Drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole drabble is an extended reference to OMG Check, Please! Of which I am a huge fan. Enjoy some Jack Zimmermann/Rin Matsuoka fusion

“Is that really Rin Matsuoka?” Ai almost cringed at the half-whispered words that followed the team trying to make their way to seats as a unit. Rin didn’t seem to react at all, and for a fleeting second Ai hoped that he hadn’t heard it at all. He caught the barest glance over Rin’s shoulder that dashed the small hope, bouncing a few steps forward to catch up to his roommate.

“Don’t worry about all that Senpai,” he soothed, patting the back of Rin’s hand with an easy smile. He was a little surprised when he actually received one in return followed by Rin’s arm draping loosely over his shoulders with a curt nod.

“I’m used to it,” he dismissed and Ai frowned a little at how true that was. He actually hadn’t known about the more colorful aspects of Rin’s past when they had begun rooming together, and attending meets with him made it seem like he was the only one in the dark. Still, he tucked a hand into Rin’s jacket pocket and smiled, trying to come up with some useless piece of chatter to serve as a distraction.

“I don’t think you should have to be,” he said instead, cursing his mouth for its tendency to move without permission. Rin blinked then shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I was famous before it happened,” he grumbled, sliding the hand that had been over Ai’s shoulder into his pocket as well, lacing their fingers together comfortably. Ai cringed a little this time, thinking of Rin’s Olympic medalist father. It seemed like he was never quite sure he’d be able to fill those shoes and Ai hated seeing Rin doubt himself at all. He hated the whispers that followed him more; snippets of rumors that were half-true at best. Rin was practiced at shrugging them off and focusing on the goal ahead of him, Ai couldn’t help but want to stop and argue with every whispering mouth.

During his third year of high school Olympic hopeful swimmer, Matsuoka Rin had overdosed on anxiety medication and turned his back on the sport for two years. It was a story that never seemed to truly fade from anyone’s mind, and when he had first heard it Ai had started to worry about Rin ceaselessly. It wasn’t until he convinced Rin to join the school’s relay team once more that he felt like Rin didn’t always need to be worried about quite so much.

(He still needed to be worried about with his habit of working himself to exhaustion and not eating quite as much as he should and being a little too hard on himself all the time. Ai still worried, just… Not as much.) Rin squeezed their hands together in his pocket, looking down at Ai with a smile that was warm in all the right ways, skimming his thumb over Ai’s knuckles. “Don’t let them get to you either.”

Ai nodded his head with a brighter smile than before, shifting the bag on his shoulder with a soft giggle. “Aye aye captain!”


	33. Consequence of Laughing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: You should write fic with Ai in home ec baking stuff. Some dudes pass by and sample everyone's pastries except Ai's, and Rin feels bad for the kid left out so he tries a slice of cake. It's fucking awful. But Ai looks so happy that Rin doesn't want to share with anyone else and eats these gross treats made by the cute kid, and maybe gives him a few pointers in the future so the pastries don't taste like coal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sitting on a bunch of prompts forever and I'm terrible and haven't written them because I've been busy T_T

Rin hadn't really meant to wind up in this situation. He'd let Mikoshiba talk him into stopping by the Home Ec class that Takuya and Toru were both stuck in because they'd both sworn they could actually cook and free food was free food. Except they didn't mean cooking, they meant baking and really Rin didn't even like sweets. Still, he was there with the captain and Minami who was so busy eating everything Toru made and raving about how good his best friend was so he didn't feel bad that there wasn't even anything edible looking left to try (Mikoshiba choked down four of Takuya's cookies and looked more miserable with each one even if he kept laughing the whole time.)

There was only one other student left in the room to watch the swim team make fools of themselves, staring at his lopsided cake with a frown and his head cocked to the side. His eyes flicked up, forcing Rin to take notice of how unnaturally wide and blue they were, catching him staring at it too and smiling weakly. He glanced at their small group then drooped his head a little, silver hair falling over his eyes like a curtain of stars, and he looked so fucking sad that Rin couldn't not go over. He tried not to sigh, raising an eyebrow and stopping in front of the workstation, blinking at the cake and searching for something to say.

"Looks good, is it for anyone?" It, in fact, did not look good. The whole thing was pitching hard to the right with frosting melting off the sides revealing the burnt interior. Still, the kid looked up with red cheeks and a small smile, shaking his head slowly. Rin grinned in response, hoping it looked encouraging instead of scary. "I'm Rin."

"I know," the kid chuckled softly then flushed a Rin's raised eyebrow, kicking his foot against the ground. "I-I tried out for the swim team, but I didn't make it. I'm, um, Nitori."

Rin blinked, glancing him over despite himself before frowning a little. He hadn't attended the try-outs, but they had enough spaces that there was no reason the kid couldn't be on the team. He made a note to talk to Mikoshiba about it- Nitori was cute and he didn't like the sad look on his face one bit. Instead, Rin reached forward and grabbed the knife laying to the side, spinning it in his hand to catch Nitori's attention with a smirk. "Mind if I try?"

"O-oh, sure!" He beamed in surprise, watching Rin cut himself a thick slice of the cake like it was the best thing to ever happen to him. The inside was no more appetizing than the outside, but Rin couldn't bring himself to care as he raised a bite to his mouth. It couldn't be any worse than eating one of Takuya's cookies.

Or so he thought until he actually tried it. It was somehow burnt but still raw in the middle and the first bite almost made him choke. He managed, swallowing it down and giving Nitori a closed mouth smile. And fuck- the kid looked like Rin had just handed him a thousand dollars and how was anyone in the world supposed to disappoint someone with a smile like that.

He ate the whole damn cake, watching Nitori's smile get wider and wider until it scrunched his eyes shut with force and made Rin forget the ache in his stomach and instead made his chest feel light and warm. He hesitated, aware that the other memebers of the team were now actually staring at him openly as he lifted his hand and gave Nitori's hair a ruffle.

"Pretty good job," he smirked, watching his cheeks catch fire and his eyes sparkle with pure wonder. Yeah. That terrible cake was worth it. "I'll have to let you bake me something else, eh?"

Nitori nodded furiously, swallowing and gathering his bag up into his arms, ducking out alongside Rin. "I-I would be glad to, Rin-senpai!"


	34. My Head Is Full Of Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ceiling Nitori + Sensory Deprivation + Bondage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because all my friends are enablers who tell me to do bad things.

At first Ai couldn't really explain what the draw was to it. It had started with with a shy request to having Rin try out blindfolding him and somehow from there it had built to this moment; with him hanging suspended from the ceiling with a complex series of ropes that created a harness around his body and held his wrists together behind his back. He wasn't aware of anything else in the room, just the chafe of rope against his soft skin and the pounding of blood in his ears and the dark fabric that blotted out his vision every time he tried fluttering his eyes open.

Some soft piano track started playing through the headphones Rin had settled on his ears, just loud enough to be really heard but not so much that he could focus on the rise and swell of the melody, just distant notes dancing past his awareness. It eased the building knot of anticipation in his stomach and he relaxed a little further into the steady hold of the rope. He could still touch the floorboards with his toes if he stretched, but he didn't try, surrendering himself instead toward the sort of fuzzy static feeling in his brain. It was that exact feeling that he couldn't explain really, why he liked having nothing but unfocused static playing over the usual frantic churnings of his brain.

He didn't really know what Rin did while he was hanging there, or how long he just let himself buzz through the pleasant sensation of nothing going through his mind at all, but the first blazing trace of Rin's fingertips over his spine made his body tense in an entirely different way. He wanted to move towards the feather-light touch, squirming slightly against the unrelenting bonds holding him in the position Rin had decided on. His shoulders would probably be sore later with his forearms trussed so they rest at the small of his back, stretching his chest forward. He couldn't tell if he made a sound or not, everything still felt a little slack and easy like his brain wasn't ready to turn back on all the way yet. 

Rin's hand pulled back regardless and Ai's mouth draped open, closing his lips around the finger that came to rest on his bottom lip. His tongue worked in a lazy roll around it, a shiver rippling down his spine as Rin's other hand slid through his hair. It didn't matter where Rin's hands actually were when Ai had no other sense of him; every cell started to be so highly aware that being touched at all made his blood blaze in his veins, so alight with sudden sensation that it almost hurt. Rin's finger pulled out of his mouth slowly, dragging down his chin and leaving a slick trail over his chin that he could feel cooling already.

The next thing he felt wasn't skin at all; hard and unyielding and unmercifully cold, sliding down each bump of his spine and leaving rivulets trailing over his sides, spreading the cold across his back before it came to rest at the small of his back where it dipped, just above his hands. The ice melted quickly against the flushed heat of his skin, leaving a puddle of cold water that spread and spilled over when Ai tensed and rocked helplessly against the bonds, shivers working ceaselessly down his body.

Another frozen cube pressed his lips and Ai let it slide into his mouth without complaint, suckling it against his tongue and swallowing the water that melted over it. The next traced the motion of his neck as he swallowed, drops sliding down the sharp lines of his clavicle and dropping off his skin to fall soundlessly to the void that sharpened Ai's awareness of his own body. He swallowed the last of the ice in his mouth, tongue hanging out in the slightly warmer air, squirming against the ropes as ice dragged down the curve of his shoulder, skirting the edge of his nipple before dropping away as well.

The heat that met with the water on his skin felt almost blistering by contrast and Ai could feel more than hear the sounds that babbled out of his mouth, failing to make coherent words with his confused mind and half frozen tongue. Teeth grazed the swell of his shoulder, Rin's tongue following the cold trail down his back, dropping a single kiss where the first cube had stopped and melted. Rin lifted away once again until his hand cupped around Ai's chin, meeting their lips together in a kiss that Ai responded to gracelessly. His own moan was little more than the awareness of sound vibrating through his chest as Rin's tongue pushed another ice cube into his mouth, drawing back and pressing Ai's mouth closed gently to encourage him to hold it there.

The next dragged down his spine again, this time followed directly by Rin's mouth, alternating between licking the cold water away from Ai's slick skin and biting gentle marks in between the strips of rope. Ai's mouth dropped open in surprise when his stomach clenched, orgasm rippling through his whole body so intensely that his brain descended into radio static again, the sounds of a forgotten television buzzing in the background. He was awake, and somewhere far away he could still feel Rin's hands stroking him soothingly, lowering him to the floor and stretching his arms out to his sides.

He didn't really snap back into himself until the blindfold pulled away to reveal Rin smiling from a few inches away. Ai was glad the room was dark around them, pulling the headphones off on his own with a smile that felt shaky on his face. Rin reached a hand up to massage the tip of his ears gently, the other wrapping a blanket around him before fluttering a kiss onto his forehead.

"You alright?" His voice was quieter than usual and Ai nodded, slumping his weight towards Rin's side with a little giggle. He didn't miss his boyfriend rolling his eyes before picking him up to deposit him on the soft bed rather than the wooden floor. "Spoiled boy. Do you want a movie or food first?"

"Cuddling," Ai groaned, stretching his arms out as well as he could before making grabby hands in Rin's direction, grinning as he dropped back to the bed and pulled Ai against his chest with a huff of laughter, shaking his head.

"You could've waited for me to put the movie in," Rin grumbled between light kisses over the side of Ai's neck. In response he shrugged, crossing his eyes to watch Rin's finger poke at his nose. "Spoiled."


	35. We Used To Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: When Haru went to Australia with Rin things got a little out of hand between the two and Makoto ended up finding out about it.

Rin sighed as the phone rang, grimacing to himself. The line clicked on but there was no immediate greeting, making him frown a little further.

“Now before you get mad at me,” he started, cringing at the sigh that cut him off– long and defeated. Apparently it was too late for ‘not getting mad’. He bit his words off, ending instead with a quiet “Mako?”

It was another long sigh before Rin actually got an answer, leaving him twitching against the plastic seat. “How did this even happen?”

Oh, that was not a good tone. Makoto wasn’t even whining or trying to mother them. Rin flinched, answering with a nervous laugh. “It just… got a little out of hand.”

“A little out of hand,” Makoto repeated bleakly. Rin could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “What were you doing?”

“I,” he started, wishing he had a better answer to that question. “Was trying to get a picture of the ducks.” He could feel heat creeping up the back of his neck. “To show Nitori.”

“Ducks,” he sighed, and Rin really wished he would stop repeating every embarrassing thing out loud. “And while you did that it got so far out of hand you both got arrested?”

Makoto’s voice rose two octaves impressively fast; there was giggling in the background that Rin didn’t want to even begin to acknowledge.

“It’s fucking winter! I didn’t think he’d jump in the fuckin’ fountain,” he snapped, shaking his head hard. His hand was waving in the air emphatically and the officer behind the reception desk was staring at him now. “And I tried to get him out!”

“That’s how you ended up in it too?” Makoto inquired, sounding only slightly further from having a complete meltdown. There was more laughter, two people this time. Rin really wished he knew exactly who was hearing this story.

“I fell,” his clothes were still wet and sticking to his skin in the cold air of the station. At least his coat, and his phone in the pocket, had stayed dry. “It was fucking freezing.”

“Rin,” Makoto sounded less like he had calmed down and more like someone had hollowed out his ability to be disappointed in their actions. “You two are never going on vacation alone again.”

“Yeah, I figured,” he sighed, shaking his head slowly, wet hair clinging to his forehead. At least they weren’t pressing charges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin wasn't trying to just get a photo of a duck, he was trying to catch one so he could take a selfie with it and make Ai think he was cool.


	36. How Long Will I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: can you do a rintori fic with nitori standing on rin's feet while they slow dance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write actual dancing, but I can be sappy to the sound of Ellie Goulding singing How Long Will I Love You.

The more time Ai spent visiting Australia, the more he started to like it. Even though the first time, when Rin had asked him to come and spend Christmas break there, he had neglected to mention the sudden change in seasons. It left Ai stepping off the plane with a heavy jacket and scarf bundled around him, dying nearly instantly at the heat that wafted off the tarmac in unbelievable waves.

He ended up spending most of the week in (and out of) Rin’s clothes because he’d brought entirely winter outfits that were too hot to even consider putting on.

This visit though was much better. It was the tail end of spring in Japan, meaning his clothes were actually appropriate and he nearly leaped out of the customs area, hurling himself into Rin’s waiting arms with a squeak of joy and suitcase dropped behind him.

Now they were walking quietly along one of the boardwalks not far from Rin’s apartment, fingers laced together and music blaring tinny over their heads. The sun was just starting to dip into the waiting pool of ocean under it, making the horizon stretch thin and orange. Ai lifted his head from staring out over the water to find a small group of people dancing under one of the speakers. Rin paused, rolling his eyes and starting to grumble a curse in English under his breath until he caught Ai’s bright-eyed stare.

"Really?" He sighed slightly, giving the group of couples a side eyed glare. Ai whined, giving his arm a tug and smiling up at him.

"Please, Senpai? It'll be fun!" He chirped, smiling when Rin's shoulders deflated in defeat, nodding his head and rolling his eyes.

"You have until the song ends, and no stepping on me," apparently the situation made Ai more nervous than he let on because that was exactly the first thing he did. Rin tried not to grin, lifting Ai slightly in the air and settling him so he was standing on Rin's feet a little awkwardly, holding himself up with a tight grip on his shoulders. "Comfy?"

"I'm not a little kid," he protested, but there was a warm pink glow to his cheeks and he offered no complaint when Rin started moving them with the music, pressing his forehead into Rin's neck and humming in contentment.

Rin bit back the rest of his complaints when he saw the tiny smile on Ai's face, almost hidden against his skin but not quite. He rubbed a hand up and down his back instead, letting him stay there when the song wound to an end in favor of brushing soft kisses against his temple. They probably made a ridiculous pair, Ai balanced precariously on his feet while they kissed in the silence that followed the song, Rin honestly couldn't be bothered to care at that point.


	37. Be Be Your Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song Drabbles: Be Be Your Love- Rachel Yamagata

It was, of course, just a crush. It wasn’t only obvious to Ai, everyone seemed to be able to see the way he positively mooned after his former roommate. At least the majority of the team had the courtesy not to mock him for it; though the pitying glances that he got after Rin ruffled his hair following a good practice (or sometimes still barked at him after a bad one). He just tilted his chin up a little further and ignored it.

At the very least, Rin didn’t seem aware of his crush. Or if he was he was determined not to show it, Ai wasn’t sure which out come he would have preferred and he certainly didn’t dare bring it up to ask. So he did what he was best at-- he kept pushing forward and ignoring the soft mumble of teammates behind his back-- mostly.

“He’s still timing Matsuoka-bucho?” Ai was tempted to turn around and tell Uozumi that he wasn’t nearly as quiet as he thought he was, but instead he stared directly at the stopwatch in his hand like he hadn’t heard anything, hoping the towel draped around his neck hid the way his shoulders tensed. Rin was at the far end of the pool so he was safe from overhearing it. Kazuki didn’t quite laugh but he did make a kind of snorting sound that was close.

“Don’t bug him about it-- don’t you think it’s already kind of bad enough?” Kazuki wasn’t that quiet either. Ai didn’t turn his head, didn’t duck further into himself. It was normal, they meant well, there was no reason to get upset over something silly. He didn’t believe he had any real chance with Rin on his own, let alone expect anyone else to believe it for him. “Let him moon over Bucho if he wants to.”

It was strange that those words could still feel like a stab, and Ai was so busy swallowing tears back down that he missed Rin finishing his lap completely, still staring at the watch and finding he was totally unable to see the numbers. “Oi! Ai, snap out of it.”

Ai jolted at Rin’s voice, pressing the stop button far too late and looking up, shaking his head hard with a frown. “S-sorry Senpai! I, um--”  
“What’s up? Why are you crying?” Rin’s voice rose from annoyance to alarm quickly and Ai just kept shaking his head back and forth, stumbling back from the edge of the pool and mortifying himself by turning and sprinting for the locker room faster than he should on the wet floor. He caught the blurred image of Sousuke glaring at Uozumi and Kazuki, still standing together with equally pitying looks that made Ai’s chest burn. He considered trying to lock himself in one of the stalls to hide but instead simply turned and started changing his clothes instead.

He had wiggled back into his uniform slacks when the door banged open, making him cringe and pray that it was just someone getting something from their locker, scrubbing his towel harshly over his face like it would hide the evidence that he was still crying. He was only making himself look more like an idiot and he muffled a cracked groan into the damp fabric over his face.

When a cool hand touched his shoulder he leaped so hard he nearly knocked himself over, dropping the towel and blinking spots out of his eyes as he met with Rin’s frowning face, hand still extended towards his bare shoulder. “Ai? You alright?”

“F-fine,” he stumbled, trying to inject some cheer into his voice. It was a failed effort, and it showed on Rin’s face, but he forced a smile anyway. He didn’t have any kind of excuse for this in his head and instead he tried to swallow the lump in his throat back into his stomach. “R-really Senpai, it’s nothing.”

“You ran out of practice crying... I don’t really think that’s nothing,” Rin sighed, shaking his head as Ai turned back to getting dressed. It was awkward for Rin, he knew, being the one who had to comfort someone else. “Is someone giving you trouble?”

The growl in his voice should not have made Ai’s stomach flutter the way it did. He shook his head again, giving a small, defeated sigh before turning back to face him, rubbing the back of his hand over his cheeks. “It was just-- they didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Who didn’t mean anything by what?” Rin frowned and Ai looked down to align the buttons on his shirt properly.

“Just... Kazuki and Uozumi were talking about me,” he paused when Rin’s head snapped around, rolling his eyes. “It wasn’t anything bad! I just... got upset is all. I overreacted.”

“Do you want me to talk to them?” Rin sounded-- Ai wasn’t sure. Skeptical, maybe. He shook his head, trying not to be pleased by the offer. The last thing he needed was Rin showing up to fight his battles for him.

“I promise it’s no big deal,” he smiled again, and this time it felt a little more convincing, less like it was going to wobble and fall right off his face. Rin hesitated, planting his hand on top of Ai’s head and for a moment he expected him to simply ruffle it and leave, but instead he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss of Ai’s forehead, eyes slowly closing as his mouth moved with his lips still pressed there.

“If someone bugs you come straight to me, okay?” Ai could barely hear the words over the sound of his heart tripping over itself, unable to set a steady rhythm. He must have nodded dumbly because Rin pulled back with a crooked grin and red cheeks, nodding his head and petting Ai’s hair once before slinking back out to the pool.


	38. Party At A Rich Dude's House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: College party first time meeting au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor blood and violence, no more than you see anywhere else in this.

Rin really, really was starting to hate Seijuurou. Apparently constantly sniffing around his sister wasn’t bad enough, now he had dragged Rin out to one of his stupid athletic frat parties and then ditched him to chase after a gaggle of girls with skirts that covered their asses out of sheer luck (Rin didn’t mind the second part-- anything that kept him away from Gou was an improvement). It was exactly like him, and Rin was more annoyed at himself for playing along with the stupid idea in the first place. 

He was already feeling determined not to enjoy the entire evening by the time a red cup was passed into his hand, with a drink in it that made him feel tipsy off the smell alone. He took it in slow sips, grimacing each time the alcohol burned down the inside of his throat and carefully avoiding the impromptu dance floor that had been set up in the middle of the living room.

Instead he ended up in the much quieter backyard, with the overflow of people who looked like they wanted to be out just as much as he did. He was barely away from the doorway when a pair of loud voices bellowed out of the opening, followed by a small boy with pretty hair and a ripped shirt sprinting through the doorway so fast he tripped when the ground went from smooth tile to weathered wooden boards under his feet.

He bounced several times before catching himself, the weak strings of twinkling lights wrapped around the porch casting strange shadows on his cheeks. The boy looked up at him, blue eyes electric with fear before more heavy footfalls followed, several guys Rin vaguely recognized from the track team storming out in a group. They were wearing matching leers and the one in the front had a thick black marker in his hand.

“Nitori! You weren’t trying to slip away, right?” The one in the front clenched his teeth around the cap of the marker, pulling it off and grinning at him without saying anything else. Nitori froze, and Rin could see every one of his muscles lock up even in the low light. He went almost entirely unnoticed until one of the runners in the back reached out to grab Nitori’s arm and ended up on the ground instead with his blood splashed across Rin’s knuckles.

 

Ending up on the street in front of the frat was all sort of a blur for Ai. He could remember vividly the sound of one of his supposed teammates crashing to the ground after getting sucker punched by a total stranger, remembered said total (and very attractive) stranger wiping off blood on his jeans and grinning with his scary sharp teeth and asking if he was okay. It was at that point that everything went hazy, and now he and that same stranger were standing out on the sidewalk and Ai was suddenly aware that he was practically shirtless and for some reason this person had just beat up three people for trying to haze him.

He huffed, pushing thick strands of red hair out of his face and shaking his head with a groan, looking down at his bruised hand. “Sei is gonna be so pissed.”

“U-um,” Ai shuffled slightly, almost jumping when attention jumped back to him trying to swallow down the nerves rising in the back of his throat like bile. His voice came out in a squeak. “T-thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” the stranger paused, staring at Ai for a moment before shrugging his light jacket off and passing it over with a lopsided grin. “Though, I may have just gotten you kicked off the track team. I’m Rin.”

“Oh!” Ai’s cheeks flushed immediately, hugging Rin’s jacket to his chest for a second before sliding it on. He should’ve recognized him sooner, probably. He was one of the swimmers that was always hanging around with Momo’s older brother. Ai smiled, curling his fingers around the long sleeves of the jacket. “T-that’s okay. I don’t think it was worth staying anyway...”

Rin gave him an odd stare for a moment before nodding and Ai flushed even darker. “Ai-- Aiichirou!”

His voice almost cracked on the name and he wanted the ground to swallow him up entirely. Rin laughed gently, nodding and stepping so he was almost in Ai’s space, making him tilt his chin up to keep meeting Rin’s gaze. “Well, Ai, hopefully, you have better friends than that.”

“I-I do,” he swallowed, leaning unconsciously closer to the warmth that seemed to radiate off of Rin in every direction. “M-my roommate is on the track team but he doesn’t do anything like that. He’s very um, upstanding.”

Except when Rei heard about this and scolded him for even coming out to one of these parties from the start, and for what he was about to do next. He sucked in an unsteady breath before leaning up on his toes and pressing his lips nervously against Rin’s.

There was no hesitation before Rin kissed him back, fingers sliding warm and sure into his hair and holding Ai there, grinning before biting gently into his lower lip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea how to end this, forgive me.


	39. Learning The Ropes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How about sex shop worker rin treats his awkward little bf ai to his very extensive knowledge on sex toys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this is way more sinful than it really had to be, oops.

Ai tried very hard to be a good boyfriend. He did well at it too; if he didn’t he wouldn’t be bringing Rin lunch at work. Even though just looking at the nondescript storefront made his face light up red. He squeezed his fingers tighter around the bento, taking a shaky breath before pushing the door open and ducking inside, trying not to slump his head entirely between his shoulders.

He was surprised when the first person he saw wasn’t Rin, instead a pink-haired young man leaning an elbow on the glass counter looking through a magazine that Ai did not want to guess the contents of with a look on his face that was positively bored. He lifted his head with a blink when the bell above the door rang, taking Ai in with his chin resting in his hand, head cocked as he smiled slowly.

“Hello cutie, can I help you find something?” His voice was a purr and Ai could feel himself flush more intensely, struggling to make his voice work. All he has to do was ask for Rin, he wasn’t here for anything weird or illicit. He swallowed, nodding his head slowly and watching the foxlike grin get even wider. “You don’t have to be nervous, I’ll take great care of you... Let’s see--”

He was on his feet before Ai could get a protest out, grabbing a brightly colored package from a shelf nearby and rounding the counter with a chuckle. “Don’t be offended, but I’m guessing you’re not out to top anybody.”

Ai squeaked, jumping back a step and holding up the wrapped lunch, shaking his head furiously. “W-wait, I don’t think--”

“Oi! Kisumi,” Rin poked his head out from behind a shelf, frown getting harder when he saw him with Ai, snorting. “Leave him be.”

Kisumi glanced between them for a moment before turning to Rin with a brilliant smile, twisting one pink curl around his finger. “This is your little boyfriend?”

Rin nodded, pushing himself up and brushing his hands off on the legs of his jeans, narrowing his eyes when Kisumi only grinned wider before taking his spot behind the counter again, mumbling to himself. “Definitely not a top then.”

Ai swallowed hard, breaking into a shaky smile when Rin leaned down to kiss him before taking the lunch with a sharp grin, running his fingers through Ai’s hair gently. “Ignore Kisumi, he’s an irredeemable pervert.”

“Because Rinrin never takes any of the new bondage stuff home with him for ‘testing’, you know,” Kisumi purred, laughing when Rin wheeled around with murder written on his face, winking at Ai rather than being scared by it. “Ask him about it sometime... I’m sure he’s grabbed a few interesting things.”

Despite his current desire to have the ground swallow him up entirely, Ai nodded his head slowly, not missing the way Rin's mouth dropped open just a little at that.

 

 

"You really don't have to do this," Rin mumbled, staring at Ai kneeling on the bed with his wrists crossed in front of him, head tilted slightly to the side. He looked so openly curious like he'd forgotten how embarrassed he was when actually asking Rin to tie him up, stuttering and beat red. It wasn't, of course, that Rin wanted to talk him out of trying it, he was just... nervous. Ai smiled slowly up at him, a little giggle in his voice.

"Am I supposed to call you Master or anything?" He shuffled slightly forward, draping his legs off the edge of the bed and grinning when Rin shook his head and laughed.

"God, no. Just relax-- I'll tell you if you need to do anything," at least Ai being unnaturally at ease helped, along with his giggling questions. Ai nodded, cheeks tingeing pink when he looked just a little too eager. Rin tried not to chuckle, digging inside the box he'd hauled out of his closet for a moment. He could sense Ai leaning over him curiously, but he ignored it for the moment, almost laughing at the confused look on his face when he pulled out a pair of velcro-closed restraints. "I'm sorry, did you think we were starting out with the whips and chains?"

"W-well I wasn't sure!" Ai whined and Rin did laugh softly, fastening them gently around his wrists behind his back, stroking the skin of his arms and rolling his eyes before kissing him, softly, stroking a thumb over the swell of his cheek.

"I'm not gonna just drop you in the deep end-- just lay down, alright?" He smiled when Ai nodded before flopping over onto his back. And Rin had thought dating a virgin put on pressure. He tugged Ai's shorts off easily, nudging him to lift his hips up and let them slide down to the floor, pressing kisses to the insides of his knees, draping Ai's legs over his shoulders. He could hear the shuffle of Ai's hands against the bed, testing how far he could stretch them apart, wiggling slightly when he realized he couldn't reach out and grab at Rin like he usually did.

He paused in nipping tiny marks on Ai's thighs to glance up at him with a raised eyebrow, almost stopping short in surprise at the glazed over look on Ai's face. His teeth were digging sharp into his lower lip and when Rin didn't start touching him again immediately he whined into it, squeezing his hazy eyes shut. Rin smirked just a little to himself, dragging his tongue over the flushed shaft of Ai's cock, watching his back arch off the bed in surprise, trying to push his hips into the warm probing of Rin's tongue with only his shoulders for leverage.

Rin smirked, sliding the head passed his lips slowly, dragging his tongue over the slit and listening to Ai whine again. He gripped one hand gently around Ai's hip to prevent him from jerking upwards, bobbing his head slowly and drawing suction with his mouth each time. Ai continued struggling for purchase, curling his legs against Rin's back and trying to strain his hips upward. He whimpered when Rin pulled his mouth off, chest heaving around strained breaths. He dragged his tongue along the shaft once again, feeling it twitch towards the contact with a little grin. 

He dropped his hand off of Ai's hip, pulling the tube of lube out of his lap and slicking the cool gel over two fingers before massaging them against the tight muscle of Ai's entrance, moving slowly until Ai pushed his hips downward with a small sound from the back of his throat, shoulders flexing backwards as he pulled again at the restraints on his arms.

Rin's second finger pushed in as well, stretching Ai's rim out, scissoring apart before sliding all the way in again. He avoided curling them upward against his prostate, watching him shake apart into tiny quivering pieces instead. He drew both fingers out gently, reaching instead for the other object laying in his lap, nibbling the inside of Ai’s thigh to cover his grin, spreading lube over the rounded head. 

The vibrator slid in easily and Rin pushed Ai’s thighs wider apart, keeping one hitched over his shoulder. It curved upward naturally and Ai inhaled sharply at the first press of cool silicone against his neglected prostate. Rin purred, stroking the outside of his hip. “Take a deep breath for me.”

Ai blinked but sucked in a lungful of air without questioning it, his back snapping into an arch so high that it looked painful when they toy started buzzing madly inside him, pressing mercilessly into his bundle of nerves and making all the air he had just pulled in leave his mouth in a raw shout that cracked in the center. 

Rin let Ai’s hips writhe as they wanted, cock leaving his stomach slick with trails of precum. Ai rolled back against the constant vibrations with hiccuping little sounds falling out of his mouth, hands gripped into helpless fists. The vibrations increased in power, making Ai’s voice crack as his orgasm was wrenched out of him so quick and harsh that he looked almost shocked by it.

Rin turned the toy down slowly, easing it out and laying Ai’s twitching hips back against the bed, leaning forward to draw his tongue slowly through the pale streams of cum spread across his stomach, grinning as Ai’s breathing slowed gradually. “Good boy.”


	40. Burn The Pages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omega!AU where Nitori was a target of harassment from Alphas and when he ran into Rin, the first Alpha who didn't have the urge to bully him, he started following him around. He was kind of using Rin's scent to ward off other Alphas at first but soon found himself falling for the Alpha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I continue to be terrible at following prompts, but whatever. For Ai's birthday!!

The way it starts is really an accident. Ai mistakes his roommates jersey for his own when getting dressed in the morning, somehow not yet even awake enough to catch the way the alpha's scent clings to the fabric. He sinks into his seat during his first class, rubbing his sleeve at one of his eyes before he actually notices it.

He bolts a little more upright in his seat, cheeks flushing dark red, teeth digging into his lower lip. He's instantly on edge, hoping Rin doesn't notice it missing before he has a chance to go put it back. So far they haven't had many problems living together, even if Ai's first instinct around Rin for weeks was to submit nearly as soon as he started talking, shying away and showing his neck at every little thing.

He's starting to get better about it, and while Rin was obviously annoyed by the habit, he's never really said much about it, past a little, irritated click of his tongue and a roll of his eyes.

Ai isn't used to alpha's who are so obvious about their emotions, both positive and negative, and he's even less used to being around an alpha who doesn't seem interested harassing him about mating. He sighs, leaning his head on his own shoulder, still flushing slightly at the warm scent wrapped around him, breathing it in with each slow drag of air. He's used to it, enough that it nearly lulls him to sleep in class and he has to shake himself upright again more than once.

The beta who sits next to him seems to notice his struggle and chuckles a little at it, raising both eyebrows at the jacket. Ai flushes worse, tucking his chin down slightly and looking away. He doesn't exactly want to admit to the fact he picked it up as a mistake-- clothes sharing is usually a sign of a serious courtship.

There isn't any time to duck out and switch into his own jacket (and probably change his shirt) until lunch, and Ai tosses his bag over his shoulder with a little frown. The halls are busy, and the omega is left trying to dodge his way between people without drawing attention, hands gripping around the strap of his bag.

It marks the first time in a long time that he doesn't get stopped in the hallway so some alpha can sniff at him or whistle and shout something obscene, and by the time Ai gets back to the dorms, he's reluctant to take the jacket off at all.

 

"You want me to what?" Rin frowns, both eyebrows raised, staring flatly at the red-faced omega sitting in his bed. Ai's gaze darts up to his face before dropping to his lap again, picking at a stray thread on his sleeve, curling into himself slightly further.

"It- it doesn't have to be like that!" He squeaks, biting his lip roughly when he notices the tone, clearing his throat. "It's just, p- people don't bother me that way."

"Because they think we're dating," there's still no inflection to his tone, and he's waiting for the suggestion to really sink in. Ai cringes again, nodding his head and standing up quickly, sleeve still trapped between two of his fingers, twisting threat between them with a nervous shuffle of his feet.

"S- sorry! I know it's a stupid idea, I'll just-" he doesn't seem to know how to finish his thought and Rin sighs, rubbing his palm into his forehead and groaning at himself internally.

This is a terrible idea. A stupid, terrible idea. "Fine- just, sit there, okay?"

Ai stops babbling, blinking his eyes in surprise. A slow smile lights over his face, staring back at Rin with wide, blue eyes, nodding his head slowly. He drops back to sitting on the bed and Rin takes a sharp breath to try and steady himself.

It takes him two steps to get to the edge of the bed and he leans over, trying not to make the omega feel caged in, taking one of Ai's slender arms and rubbing the underside of his wrist against chin. It presses the scent gland under his skin and Rin has to force himself not to make a little sound at the feeling. He drops Ai's arm after a moment, giving the omega an expectant look that he hopes still reads as bored.

Ai blinks his eyes slowly, lips slightly parted around each breath, eyes gone glassy, and Rin's stomach tightens in a way that it really shouldn't. He wants to shove himself in the tiny space of the bunk and scent mark the omega properly—sucking at his neck with the smaller boy under him gone melted and pliant, making happy little sounds with every breath—Rin jolts himself out of fantasizing with a shake of his head, leaning over and rubbing his chin against Ai's hair rather than waiting for him to do it himself.

Ai makes a noise at that, soft and hidden mostly under his breath, and Rin isn't sure he's even aware making it, but it forces the alpha to jerk back sharply. He shakes his head once more, turning on his heel and nearly storming out of the room, desperate to escape before he does something he's really, really not supposed to.

 

Ai's plan seems to work exactly the way he was hoping it would—leaving their room actually smelling like Rin means that other alphas around school give him a slightly wider berth than before. There are still people who stare and look like they want to bother him, but in comparison to being constantly late because someone decided to back him up against a wall and get a better sniff of him, it's not bad at all.

What doesn't seem to work is the fact that Rin seems to /hate/ scent marking him. He does it with as little physical contact as possible, always edging away or even storming out of the room entirely before Ai can even thank him. He doesn't exactly /expect/ a chance to reciprocate the gesture—they aren't actually dating, and Rin probably doesn't want to smell like an omega he has no interest in—but Ai would at least like to do something nice for him in return.

He huffs a little sigh, sitting down in Rin's bed after getting ready for class. It's become their routine, and Rin shuffles out of the bathroom with a yawn, rubbing the heel of his hand against his eye. He was up late the night before working on something, Ai knows, and he's about to suggest skipping the little ritual entirely and borrowing Rin's jacket again instead so he isn't a bother, but Rin strides right over, eyes half-open.

Rather than simply taking Ai's arm like he usually does, Rin leans down into the space of the bunk. He grunts softly when Ai doesn't shift to make room right away, bumping their shoulders together until Ai shifts how he seems to want—laying on his back, stretched diagonal across the bed with Rin leaning over him. He grins a little, soft at the edges rather than a dangerous display of teeth, before ducking his head and dragging his teeth down the soft skin under Ai's chin.

Ai gasps in a sharp breath, squeezing his eyes closed and squirming underneath Rin in surprise. This isn't the morning that he's used to, with the alpha's tongue dragging hot lines against the very top of his throat. Ai whines slightly at the feeling of his scent glands relaxing, finger tightening in the sheet under him when Rin makes a pleased sound but doesn't pull his mouth away, sucking gently at the skin there.

The omega can feel how red his face is, still squirming slightly without making any real attempt to get away. This is much, much more intimate than Rin begrudgingly nuzzling at the top of his head, and Ai can't help but think he'd be happy to lay there for however long the alpha wants. A soft hum vibrates against his skin, followed by Rin's head lifting to nuzzle their necks together, breathing another yawn next to Ai's ear and leaning more of his weight down and sliding his arms around the omega rather than getting up and rushing to get away.

Ai swallows, blinking his eyes and tilting his head to stare at the top of Rin's, teeth digging into his lip. He's reluctant to do anything that might disturb the nice moment, with the alpha breathing their mingled scents in slow, heavy breaths, like he's right on the edge of falling asleep again.

He untangles his fingers from the sheets instead, stroking his fingers through Rin's hair, surprised by how soft it is. Rin mumbles something soft, barely words at all, and shuts his eyes.

They can figure the rest out later, Ai decides, closing his as well.


End file.
